Judith Cole
Associate Professor
About Dr. Cole
Dr. Cole joined the Department in 2003. She began her research career as a comparative endocrinologist, studying the regulation calcium and phosphate homeostasis in European starlings. In her post-doctoral work, she became interested in the regulation of parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor regulation and PTH-activated signaling pathways in kidney and bone. At the University of Memphis, Dr. Cole has continued he work on PTH signaling, with a specific interest in signaling dynamics. She has also collaborated with department colleagues studying the role of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its ligands in the regulation of epithelial function and the deorphanization of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) for which there are no known ligand. Dr. Cole teaches BIOL4480/6480 Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, BIOL4090 Synthetic Biology CURE lab, BIOL 4004 Readings in Modern Biology, and BIOL 7140/8140 Receptors and Signaling.
Education
B.S. in Zoology, University of Rhode Island; Ph.D. in Physiology, specialization in Endocrinology, University of Connecticut; Post-Doctoral Fellow in Endocrine Pharmacology, University of Missouri School of Medicine.
Research Interests
- Signaling dynamics in signal transduction pathways activated by GPCRs and receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs)
- Cross-talk between GPCR and RTK signaling pathways
- PTH signaling in bone and kidney including biased signaling and its role in the regulation of cell function
- GPCR deoprhanization using molecular modeling and in vitro validation
- PTH and EGF regulation of epithelial function