Ilya S. Senatorov is the Molecular Pharmacology Highlighted Trainee Author for the May 2020 issue. Dr. Senatorov was a pre-doctoral trainee in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a pharmacy student in the Department of Pharmacy at Mercer University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Moniri, when the experiments reflected in his manuscript were conducted. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute. The Molecular Pharmacology article that earned his selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled“ Carboxy-Terminal Phosphoregulation of the Long Splice Isoform of Free-Fatty Acid Receptor-4 Mediates β-Arrestin Recruitment and Signaling to ERK1/2” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/mol.119.117697.
Dr. Senatorov’s area of research is molecular pharmacology. As a graduate student, he investigated signaling differences between two splice isoforms of Free-Fatty Acid Receptor-4 (FFA4) by comparing their phosphorylation and downstream signal propagation. Since FFA4 has great therapeutic potential for its anti-inflammatory action and insulin sensitivity modulation, characterizing signaling differences between the two existing isoforms is an important step in predicting the consequences of targeting this receptor systemically.
Currently, Dr. Senatorov is working in the field of genitourinary cancer pathogenesis, characterizing novel compounds, and target sensitivity profiles in models representing real patient tumor heterogeneity via high-throughput drug screens in PDX/patient-derived organoids.
Outside of work, Ilya’s interests include fitness, comedy, and live music.