Dr. Signer is investigating how the process of building defective proteins (inaccurate protein synthesis) plays a role in the development of a type of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in the hopes of developing targeted therapies to treat this condition. 

Robert Signer, Ph.D., is a stem cell biologist whose trailblazing work on protein synthesis opened the door to uncharted areas of cellular investigation. Dr. Signer is currently an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Regenerative Medicine at the University of California San Diego. His laboratory, located in Moores Cancer Center, investigates how cell-type specific differences in protein homeostasis regulate blood-forming and leukemia stem cells.