Ken was elected to American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Kendall Blumer
Kendall J. Blumer, a professor of cell biology and physiology at the School of Medicine, is being honored for his contributions to understanding G protein signaling and discoveries about inhibition of an overreactive G protein — G alpha q — that causes uveal melanoma, an aggressive and deadly cancer arising from pigmented cells of the eye. Genetic errors in uveal melanoma permanently activate G alpha q.
Blumer’s work has discovered how to shut off overactive G alpha q in uveal melanoma, providing a new therapeutic approach currently under investigation in clinical trials.