Timothy Marlowe

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Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine
Assistant Research Scientist, Interdisciplinary Oncology
Biography
Dr. Marlowe directs a drug discovery laboratory at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, Cancer Center, and College of Pharmacy, where his main focus is the discovery of novel peptides and small molecules that target Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK). He is Chief Scientific Officer of biotech company FAKnostics, LLC, focused on FAK diagnostics & therapeutics. He is also Director of the Molecular Discovery Core (MDC) facility, accelerating discovery of drugs and chemical probes against multiple targets. Dr. Marlowe received his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology & Cancer Therapeutics from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and B.S. in Pharmacology & Toxicology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Cancer Focus
Dr. Marlowe's laboratory primarily investigates the cancer drug target focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and the mechanisms by which cancer cells depend on FAK signaling for tumor growth, survival, invasion, and metastasis. His research is focused on: 1) structure-based discovery of novel FAK inhibitors, 2) synthesis of peptides and small molecules, and 3) biological mechanisms of the FAK pathway. Most recently, his lab has identified a series of cyclic peptide-based drug candidates that inactivate the focal adhesion targeting (FAT) domain, the protein domain of FAK that regulates the focal adhesion complex and FAK localization. These promising molecules have shown efficacy in pre-clinical melanoma models and are under current development.
Selected Publications
Marlowe, T., C. Alvarado, A. Rivera, F. Lenzo, R. Nott, D. Bondugji, J. Montoya, A. Hurley, M. Kaplan, A. Capaldi, et al., "Development of a High-Throughput Fluorescence Polarization Assay to Detect Inhibitors of the FAK-Paxillin Interaction.", SLAS Discov, vol. 25, issue 1, pp. 21-32, 2020 01. PMID: 31513463
Stahl, E., R. Nott, K. Koessel, W. Cance, and T. Marlowe, "Computational-based discovery of FAK FERM domain chemical probes that inhibit HER2-FAK cancer signaling.", Chem Biol Drug Des, vol. 95, issue 6, pp. 584-599, 2020 06. PMID: 32080977
Alvarado, C., E. Stahl, K. Koessel, A. Rivera, B. R. Cherry, S. V. S. R. K. Pulavarti, T. Szyperski, W. Cance, and T. Marlowe, "Development of a Fragment-Based Screening Assay for the Focal Adhesion Targeting Domain Using SPR and NMR.", Molecules, vol. 24, issue 18, 2019 Sep 14. PMCID: PMC6766811 PMID: 31540099
Marlowe, T. A., F. L. Lenzo, S. A. Figel, A. T. Grapes, and W. G. Cance, "Oncogenic Receptor Tyrosine Kinases Directly Phosphorylate Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) as a Resistance Mechanism to FAK-Kinase Inhibitors.", Mol Cancer Ther, vol. 15, issue 12, pp. 3028-3039, 2016 12. PMCID: PMC5136315 PMID: 27638858
Cance, W. G., E. Kurenova, T. Marlowe, and V. Golubovskaya, "Disrupting the scaffold to improve focal adhesion kinase-targeted cancer therapeutics.", Sci Signal, vol. 6, issue 268, pp. pe10, 2013 Mar 26. PMCID: PMC3693475 PMID: 23532331