New investigator: Armen Petrosyan, Ph.D.

Armen Petrosyan, Ph.D.

This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2018-19 Scientist Laureate, Distinguished Scientist, Research Leadership and New Investigator Award recipients.

The New Investigator Award

New Investigator Awards go to outstanding UNMC scientists who in the past two years have secured their first funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense or other national sources.
New Investigators also had to demonstrate scholarly activity such as publishing their research and/or presenting their findings at national conventions.

  • Name: Armen Petrosyan, Ph.D.
  • Title: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Joined UNMC: 2009
  • Hometown: Stepanakert, Republic of Artsakh (former U.S.S.R.)

Research focus:
Glycobiology of cancer.

The goal of my research is: To investigate the link of intracellular alterations to the development of a tumor. Specifically, I am focusing on how disorganization of the Golgi apparatus, the central station of proteins’ modification, opens the doors for cascades of fatal processes which may facilitate progression and metastasis of different types of cancer. The short-term goal of my research is to study how alcohol accelerates development of prostate cancer through Golgi fragmentation. This will address an important longstanding question raised by clinicians: whether alcohol abstinence is an important therapeutic intervention in this disease. But above all, this study will help to uncover the mysteries of pathways that drive prostate cancer progression.

My research will make a difference because: The study of onco-Golgi will inevitably lead to the development of a strategy to reorganize the Golgi structure, providing numerous unprecedented possibilities in the world of cancer treatment.

The best advice I’ve ever been given is: From my mom: “Listen more, talk less.” I think it is one of the keys to effective leadership.

Three things you may not know about me are:

  • At 5 years old, I went to elementary school, and I received an M.D. diploma at age of 21. By that time, I became fluent in five languages.
  • In the summer of 1992, being a medical student, I was volunteering as a surgical assistant in a Red Cross hospital at the forefront of the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
  • In 2017, I celebrated 20 years of marriage with my best friend Kateryna.

5 comments

  1. Carol Casey says:

    Congrats, Armen! Well deserved!

  2. Amy Dodson says:

    Congratulations!!!

  3. Kusum K. Kharbanda says:

    Congratulations Armen!

  4. Jimmy Talaska says:

    Congratulations Armen from the Advanced Microscopy Core! We see first hand how your hard work and dedication has paid off.

  5. Sathish Kumar Natarajan says:

    Congratulations Armen!

Comments are closed.