Profiles
Andrew Beenken
Graduate Student, Molecular Pharmacology and Signal Transduction
Department of Pharmacology Training Grant
BS Chemistry, Yale University
Email:
Faculty Mentor: Moosa Mohammadi, Ph.D.
I matriculated into the program in 2004, immediately after finishing university. I'm interested in the determinants of ligand-receptor specificity in the FGF family, and I use crystallographic and biochemical techniques to study FGF-FGFR interactions.
Thesis
Structural and biochemical studies of FGF-FGFR complexes
Selected Publications
Makarenkova HP, Hoffman MP, Beenken A, Eliseenkova AV, Meech R, Tsau C, Patel VN, Lang RA, Mohammadi M. Differential interactions of FGFs with heparan sulfate control gradient formation and branching morphogenesis. Sci Signal. 2009 Sep 15;2(88):ra55. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19755711. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.2000304.
Zhang F, Zhang Z, Lin X, Beenken A, Eliseenkova AV, Mohammadi M, Linhardt RJ. Compositional analysis of heparin/heparan sulfate interacting with fibroblast growth factor·fibroblast growth factor receptor complexes. Biochemistry. 2009 Sep 8;48(35):8379-86. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19591432. doi: 10.1021/bi9006379.
Beenken A, Mohammadi M. The FGF family: biology, pathophysiology and therapy. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2009 Mar;8(3):235-53. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19247306. doi: 10.1038/nrd2792.
Falardeau J, Chung WC, Beenken A, Raivio T, Plummer L, Sidis Y, Jacobson-Dickman EE, Eliseenkova AV, Ma J, Dwyer A, Quinton R, Na S, Hall JE, Huot C, Alois N, Pearce SH, Cole LW, Hughes V, Mohammadi M, Tsai P, Pitteloud N. Decreased FGF8 signaling causes deficiency of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in humans and mice. J Clin Invest. 2008 Aug 1;118(8):2822-2831. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18596921. PMCID: PMC2441855.
Goetz R, Beenken A, Ibrahimi OA, Kalinina J, Olsen SK, Eliseenkova AV, Xu C, Neubert TA, Zhang F, Linhardt RJ, Yu X, White KE, Inagaki T, Kliewer SA, Yamamoto M, Kurosu H, Ogawa Y, Kuro-o M, Lanske B, Razzaque MS, Mohammadi M. Molecular insights into the klotho-dependent, endocrine mode of action of fibroblast growth factor 19 subfamily members. Mol Cell Biol. 2007 May;27(9):3417-28. Epub 2007 Mar 5. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17339340. doi: 10.1128/MCB.02249-06. PMCID: PMC1899957.
Beenken A, Mohammadi M. Hedgehogs like it sweet, too. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Nov 14;103(46):17069-70. Epub 2006 Nov 6. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17088529. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0608456103.
