Abstract 1407 Shining a light on dark and gloomy pseudokinases and kinases

While protein kinases have been studied for decades and their catalytically-dead counterparts – the pseudokinases – for ∼20 years, approximately one-third of the human kinome remain understudied and have been termed “dark” kinases. Our group has set out to demystify these understudied proteins through detailed studies of what they look like, where they act in cells, their biological functions, and how these are perturbed in disease. Here, I will present our template for defining these functions – our program of work to understand the regulation and execution of necroptotic cell death by the Mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) pseudokinase, and the role of dysregulation of necroptosis in human disease.