Faculty & Staff Profiles

Christina Zito, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Practice
Coordinator, B.S. in Biology
Coordinator, B.S. in Genetics and Biotechnology

Department of Biology and Environmental Science
College of Arts and Sciences

For the Media

Email Media Relations
Christina Zito

Education

Ph.D. Yale University, Pharmacology
B.A. Mount Holyoke College, Biology

 

Research Interests

  • Signaling pathways in cancer
  • New therapeutic targets for rational drug design
  • Signaling by protein tyrosine phosphatases

Recently Published Articles

  • Tworkoski K, Zito CI, Singahl G, Szpakowski S, Muthusamy V, Bacchiocchi A, Bosenberg M, Krauthammer M,  Halaban R, Stern DF. (2011) Phospho-proteomic screen identifies novel therapeutic targets in melanoma. Molecular Cancer Research 9: 801.
  • Toy EP, Azodi M, Folk NL, Ivins CM, Zeiss CJ, Chambers SK. (2009) Enhanced ovarian cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis by the macrophage colony stimulating factor (CSF-1). Neoplasia 11(2): 136-144.
  • Zito CI, Riches DR, Kolmakova J, Simons JF, Egholm M, Stern DR. (2008) Direct resequencing of the complete ERBB2 coding sequence reveals an absence of activating mutations in ERBB2 amplified breast cancer. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 47 (7), 633-8.
  • Zito CI, Qin H, Blenis J, Bennett AM. (2007) SHP-2 regulates cell growth by controlling the mTOR/S6 kinase 1 pathway.  J. Biol. Chem.  282(10): 6946- 6953.
  • Uhlén P, Burch PM, Zito CI, Estrada M, Ehrlich BE, Bennett AM. (2006) Gain-of-function/Noonan syndrome SHP-2/Ptpn11 mutants enhance calcium oscillations and impair NFAT signaling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103(7): 2160-2165.
  • Kolli S, Zito CI, Mossink MH, Wiemer EAC, Bennett AM.  (2004). The major vault protein is a novel substrate for the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2 and scaffold protein in epidermal growth factor signaling. J Biol Chem 279(28):29374-85.
  • Chambers SK, Ivins CM, Kacinski BM, Hochberg RB. (2004) An unexpected effect of glucocorticoids on stimulation of c-fms proto-oncogene expression in choriocarcinoma cells that express little glucocorticoid receptor. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 190(4):974-85.
  • Kontaridis MI, Eminaga SE, Fornaro M, Zito CI, Sordella R, Settleman J, Bennett AM. (2004). SHP-2 positively regulates myogenesis by coupling to the Rho GTPase Signaling Pathway. Mol Cell Biol 24(12):5340-52.
  • Ivins Zito C, Kontaridis MI, Fornaro M, Feng G, Bennett AM. (2004). SHP-2 regulates the phosphatidylinositide 3’-kinase/ akt pathway and suppresses caspase-3 mediated apoptosis. J Cell Physiol. 199(2):227-36.

CMBI Program

The Cellular and Molecular Biology program was licensed by the State of Connecticut Department of Higher Education in January of 1995. We have about 30 full-time students and 15 part-time students enrolled in the program with about 40% being international students from a variety of countries. People employed in the New Haven area's biotechnical and pharmaceutical industries make up most of our part-time enrollment. The students attending part-time take advantage of the "evening only" class schedule which allows them to continue their full-time employment in the field. The entire graduate program at the University of New Haven is on an accelerated schedule with three full trimesters a year. This allows full-time students to complete the Cellular and Molecular Biology program in about 16 months and part-time students to complete the degree in three years. For more information on the M.S. program, check our program page here or contact me directly.

Related Links College of Arts and SciencesGenetics and Biotechnology, B.S.Biochemistry, B.S.B.S. in BiologyCellular & Molecular Biology, M.S.