Dr. Kathryn Ferguson

Biography

Kathryn M. Ferguson's research focuses on the understanding of extracellular control of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and the aberrant activation that drives cancer diseases. She obtained her PhD at Yale University in 1996 and completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. In 2003, she transitioned to an independent faculty position in the Department of Physiology at UPenn and returned to Connecticut in 2015 to join Yale's Cancer Biology Institute and the Department of Pharmacology. Her work explores the mechanisms by which RTKs are activated, including situations where receptors form dimers in the absence of ligands. This research is part of a new NIH-funded interdisciplinary team science program aimed at understanding the membrane composition and how it influences RTK function. Additionally, her lab investigates the mechanisms of inhibition of RTKs by therapeutic antibodies, particularly those targeting the EGF receptor family. She employs a variety of techniques including cryo-electron microscopy, biochemistry, and structural biology to address these questions.

Research Interests