Yoni Haitin, PhD

About the Investigator:

Dr. Haitin’s research focuses on the structure-function relationships governing the activity of critical cellular enzymes in health and disease. Following graduation from the Interdisciplinary Life and Medical Sciences Program at Tel Aviv University, he pursued a PhD in the field of electrophysiology, studying the properties of ion channels involved in aberrant cardiac function and cancerous transformation. After postdoctoral training as a structural biologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, he returned to Tel Aviv University, where he is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

About the Research:

Cancer cells have been shown to depend on cues from their local environment in order to thrive. The ability of tumor cells to evade the immune response and resist therapy has been a long-standing hurdle in the fight against cancer. Chloride intracellular channel proteins (or CLICs) have recently gained attention in cancer research due to their involvement in cell growth, death, and movement.

Dr. Haitin’s current research project focuses on CLICs. While their exact function in cancer formation is still unknown, the involvement of CLICs was recently found in glioblastoma and ovarian cancer cells, thus rendering these proteins as potential novel oncology biomarkers.

Recently, the Haitin team discovered that CLICs can cause membrane fusion, a process influenced by various cellular conditions in the tumor environment and known to drive cancer. They will now try to uncover the molecular basis of this process, as well as study the ability of CLICs to enable cancer cells to communicate with their local environment. By utilizing molecular structure-function studies, the Haitin lab hopes to illuminate the pathophysiological role of CLIC proteins in the cancerous process. Their research should provide a firm stepping-stone for the future development of novel diagnostic tests and therapies.