Steroid hormones act through a family of transcription factors that are able to initiate genetic programs associated with virtually all aspects of physiology. Receptors respond to steroid binding by initiating a cascade of events leading to the activation or repression of target genes. These genetic programs are tightly regulated through various steps of this activation process including receptor localization, DNA binding, cofactor binding, and chromatin reorganization. These mechanisms of control are frequently deregulated in cancers, most notably breast and prostate. My group focuses on the molecular mechanisms governing the control of receptor specificity and identifying the changes that occur in disease states.
