Marc R. Montminy MD, PhD

Marc Montminy is a professor in the Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology. Montminy's lab isolated cDNA clones for the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) in 1989. cAMP was found to regulate cellular genes via the PKA mediated phosphorylation of CREB at SER133. This modification was shown to promote target gene activation via the recruitment of the coactivator CBP. Structural studies of the CREB/CBP complex revealed that CREB phosphorylation promotes recruitment of CBP via allosteric and direct mechanisms. The structure also suggested the potential for developing small molecules that block target gene activation by disrupting the CREB: CBP complex.