Major Research Activities

Dr. Pawson studied signal transduction, in other words, the way in which cells control their own and each other's behaviour through chemical signals. Many disease processes such as diabetes, heart disease, autoimmunity, and cancer arise from defects in signaling. Modern drug development, therefore, is based on understanding and intervening in this process. In cancer, for example, an aberrant signal causes cells to grow in an uncontrolled fashion. Dr. Pawson's groundbreaking discoveries related to signal transduction allowed for the development of a new generation of drugs that halt the proliferation of some kinds of cancer cells.