Dr. Stith was a PostDoctoral fellow at the University of Colordo, Pharmacology department, in Dr. James Maller's lab (from 1981 to 1987). During this period, he studied insulin receptor tyrosine kinase and its ability to induce meiotic cell division in Xenopus (maturing the oocytes into fertilizable eggs). He was involved in the first studies on insulin activation of the map kinase pathway, studying S6 phosphorylation in response to insulin addition. He also found that addition of a the DAG mimic, a phorbol ester, to Xenopus oocytes also induced meiotic cell division. This work linked protein kinase C (activated by DAG) to cell division; a project he carried on after he went to the downtown campus.
In fall 1987, he began a postion at the downtown campus...University of Colorado Denver. He teaches General Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, and Advanced Cell Biology of Disease. His lab currently studies tyrosine kinases, phosphatases, and fertilization (calcium release) involving lipid binding and activation of Src tyrosine kinase.