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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
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September 2006 - present
Publications
Publications (65)
CCN2 is widely regarded as a profibrotic factor involved in fibrotic disorders by regulating extracellular matrix (ECM). We report here that CCN2 functions as a critical cell cycle regulator in primary human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). siRNA‐mediated knockdown of CCN2 halted proliferation of primary HDFs, which was rescued by a siRNA‐resistant CCN2...
The evolution of peacefulness refers to evolutionary processes contributing to the development of human empathy, prosociality, altruism, and in-group cooperation.
The sophisticated social structure of modern humans creates a richly layered cultural milieu in which our behaviors take shape. Like all aspects of our biology, our sociality has both ge...
The vertebrate retina is said to be inverted because the photoreceptors are oriented in the posterior direction and are thus unable to maximize photodetection under conditions of low illumination. The tapetum lucidum is a photoreflective structure located posterior to the photoreceptors in the eyes of some fish and terrestrial animals. The tapetum...
The genetic basis of human uniqueness remains one of the most enduring mysteries in biological anthropology. The goal of this research project was to identify, characterize, and infer the origin and function of novel elements in the human genome that are not functionally shared with other apes. Our approach toward this goal was to utilize a variety...
The cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are two large protein families that function in a wide variety of cellular contexts. Most notably, the cyclin-CDKs govern and orchestrate progression through the eukaryotic cell cycle. In a sequential fashion, different cyclin-CDK complexes execute the signaling, transcriptional, and enzymatic events...
A biochemist's crusade to overturn evolution misrepresents theory and ignores evidence
Plant residue is currently an underutilized resource in forensic investigations despite the fact that many crime scenes, as well as suspects and victims, harbor plant-derived residue that could be recovered and analyzed. Notwithstanding the considerable skill of forensic botanists, current methods of species determination could benefit from tools f...
The cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are two large protein families that function in a wide variety of cellular contexts. Most notably, the cyclin-CDKs govern and orchestrate progression through the eukaryotic cell cycle. In a sequential fashion, different cyclin-CDK complexes execute the signaling, transcriptional, and enzymatic events...
Research on the human microbiome, the microbiota that live in, on, and around the human person, has revolutionized our understanding of the complex interactions between microbial life and human health and disease. The microbiome may also provide a valuable tool in forensic death investigations by helping to reveal the postmortem interval (PMI) of a...
In this study, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is used to explore changes in the career intentions of students in an undergraduate research experience (URE) program at a large public minority-serving college. Our URE model addresses the challenges of establishing an undergraduate research program within an urban, commuter, underfunded, Minori...
The CCN family is composed of six cysteine-rich, modular, and conserved proteins whose functions span a variety of tissues and include cell proliferation, adhesion, angiogenesis, and wound healing. Roles for the CCN proteins throughout the entire body including the skin, kidney, brain, blood vessels, hematopoietic compartment and others, are contin...
In both humans and animals, sexual activity is about much more than conception and procreation. Animals use sex to execute a variety of important social functions including establishing affiliation or dominance, to trick or cheat, or even just for pleasure.
Given the emotional and social complexity of animals, it appears that they engage in much more higher cognitive functioning than previously thought. Animals may be metacognitive, self-aware, and have minds and thoughts.
Animals and humans are driven by greed as a consequence of our competitive nature. As with all drives, reproductive success is the ultimate goal of greed.
Animals are capable of empathy and compassion, which leads them to engage in moral behaviors and decision-making.
Humans and animals grieve our losses in similar ways because the neurobiology of attachment and grief are the same.
Human and animal behavior is the product of genetically programmed and environmentally shaped instincts, which have been honed by evolution over millions of years.
Just like humans, animals recognize inequality and won't stand for it. Animals also enforce social rules and fairness when it comes to cooperation and play.
Fear is one of the most primal emotions in animals and humans. Hardwired as a reflex, it is very difficult to consciously control or overcome.
Scientists are currently discovering that animals have surprisingly complex systems of communications. They exchange sophisticated information in ways previously thought unique to humans.
Animals fall in love, establish rules for fair play, exchange valued goods and services, hold “funerals” for fallen comrades, deploy sex as a weapon, and communicate with one another using rich vocabularies. Animals also get jealous and violent or greedy and callous and develop irrational phobias, just like us. Monkeys address inequality, wolves mi...
Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CCN2/CTGF) and Nephroblastoma Overexpressed (CCN3/NOV) execute key functions within the hematopoietic compartment. Both are abundant in the bone marrow stroma, which is a niche for hematopoiesis and supports marrow function. Roles for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (calcitriol) and all-trans retinoic acid in the bone marr...
CCN2, also known as CTGF, the connective tissue growth factor, has recently been found to be in high abundance in platelets and released upon activation, an effect inhibited by aspirin, suggesting additional role in blood clotting and/or wound healing. It has been demonstrated that another member of the CCN family, the Nephroblastoma overexpressed...
One college's story provides an argument for federal and private research support. See more at: http://chronicle.com/article/How-Undergraduate-Research-Can/142557/
Retention rates of undergraduates at large urban universities serving minority populations have been problematic, especially among students in science and technology fields. John Jay College of Criminal Justice has designed a cohesive collegiate retention program according to the Tinto model of retention. This article details the strategies utilize...
Educational technology has enhanced, even revolutionized, pedagogy in many areas of higher education. This study examines the incorporation of video tutorials as a supplement to learning in an undergraduate analytical chemistry course. The concepts and problems in which students faced difficulty were first identified by assessing students’ homework...
DNA microarrays have revolutionized basic research in molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. Through hybridization of labeled probes, this high-throughput technology allows the screening of tens or even hundreds of thousands of data points in a single run. The technology is most advanced with nucleic acids, but protein and anti...
Federal workplace drug testing was initiated during the late 1980s. Since then, numerous methods have been employed to subvert these drug tests, adulteration of urine samples being the most common. A wide variety of adulterants has been reported to date along with suitable methods of their detection. Recently, websites have claimed that zinc sulfat...
Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) is a rare genetic disease which causes a variety of dermatological lesions, especially basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), often on the face, neck, and head.
Persons attending a national NBCCS support group meeting were asked to participate in survey-based assessments of quality of life and depressive symptoms...
This study sought to analyze the potential utility of the automated iPrep DNA purification instrument in routine forensic applications by subjecting this robotic DNA extraction method to a rigorous comparison study using common biological samples and simulated forensic evidence. Because the Chelex-based DNA preparation protocol is the most commonly...
Three approaches to molecular phylogenetics are demonstrated to biology students as they explore molecular data from Homo sapiens and four related primates. By analyzing DNA sequences, protein sequences, and chromosomal maps, students are repeatedly challenged to develop hypotheses regarding the ancestry of the five species. Although these exercise...
Encouraging first year undergraduate students in large lecture-hall classes to seek out and actively engage their professors is a perennial problem in science education. This problem is especially acute for commuter and minority populations. Thus, because personal relationships between students and professors are well known to promote student learn...
Virus infection of macrophages stimulates the expression of proinflammatory and antiviral genes interleukin-1 (IL-1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). In this study, we show that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is required for the inflammatory response of macrophages to virus infection. When macrophages are...
alpha-thrombin is a potent mitogen for fibroblasts and initiates a rapid signal transduction pathway leading to the activation of Ras and the stimulation of cell cycle progression. While the signaling events downstream of Ras have been studied in significant detail and appear well conserved across many species and cell types, the precise molecular...
Intracellular levels of zinc have shown a strong inverse correlation to growth and malignancy of prostate cancer. To date, studies of zinc supplementation in prostate cancer have been equivocal and have not accounted for bioavailability of zinc. Therefore, we hypothesized that direct intra-tumoral injection of zinc could impact prostate cancer grow...
The retinoblastoma protein pRb plays a pivotal role in G(1)- to S-phase cell cycle progression and is among the most frequently mutated gene products in human cancer. Although much focus has been placed on understanding how the A/B pocket and COOH-terminal domain of pRb cooperate to relieve transcriptional repression of E2F-responsive genes, compar...
Mdm2 is the most important regulator of p53, the chief responder of various modes of cellular stress, including DNA damage and oncogenic insult. Many alternative and aberrant splice products of the Mdm2 gene product have been described, but relatively little is known about the origin, function, or consequence of these variants. Recently, a novel sp...
Progression through the mammalian cell division cycle is regulated by the sequential activation of cyclin-dependent kinases, CDKs, at specific phases of the cell cycle. Cyclin A-CDK2 and cyclin A-CDK1 phosphorylate nuclear substrates during S and G(2) phases, respectfully. However, the DNA helicase complex, MCM2-7, is loaded onto the origin of repl...
Mdm2, as the most important negative regulator of p53, plays an important homeostatic role in regulating cell division and the cellular response to DNA damage, oncogenic insult and other forms of cellular stress. We discovered that the DNA damaging agent adriamycin (doxorubicin) induces a novel aberrantly spliced Mdm2 mRNA which incorporates 108 bp...
Mdm2, as the most important negative regulator of p53, plays an important homeostatic role in regulating cell division and the cellular response to DNA damage, oncogenic insult, and other forms of cellular stress. We discovered that the DNA damaging agent adriamycin (doxorubicin) induces a novel aberrantly spliced Mdm2 mRNA which incorporates 108bp...
Using genome-wide approaches, we have elucidated the regulatory circuitry governed by the XBP1 transcription factor, a key effector of the mammalian unfolded protein response (UPR), in skeletal muscle and secretory cells. We identified a core group of genes involved in constitutive maintenance of ER function in all cell types and tissue- and condit...
Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that constitutive cyclin E expression can alleviate the requirement for cyclin D-CDK activity in the inactivation of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb). Rb(DeltaCDK), a mutant construct of pRb with 15 of the 16 CDK phosphorylation sites mutated to alanine represses activation of E2F by mitogen, despite cy...
Unlabelled:
In a new study, a systematic screen for genes necessary for normal cell cycle progression has been completed in Drosophila S2 cells.
The results:
some familiar faces and some new faces add to our appreciation of the staggering complexity of cellular growth and proliferation. The apparent utility of genome-wide RNA interference screen...
Biochemical and genetic studies have determined that retinoblastoma protein (pRB) tumor suppressor family members have overlapping functions. However, these studies have largely failed to distinguish functional differences between the highly related p107 and p130 proteins. Moreover, most studies pertaining to the pRB family and its principal target...
The activation of CDK2-cyclin E in late G1 phase has been shown to play a critical role in retinoblastoma protein (pRb) inactivation and G1-S phase progression of the cell cycle. The phosphatidylinositol 3-OH-kinase inhibitor LY294002 has been shown to block cyclin
D1 accumulation, CDK4 activity and, thus, G1 progression in α-thrombin-stimulated II...
The recent discovery that murine embryos can develop normally in spite of ablation of either CDK2 or cyclin E challenges the previously held dogma that cyclin E-CDK2 activity is strictly required for the cell-division cycle. However, genetic, cellular, biochemical and clinical evidence correlate aberrant cyclin E expression with tumorigenesis and p...
The activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 is required for G(1)-S-phase progression of the eukaryotic cell cycle. In this study, we examine the activation of CDK2-cyclin E by constructing a CDK2 that is constitutively targeted to the nucleus. Activation of CDK2 requires the removal of two inhibitory phosphates (Thr-14 and Tyr-15) and the addition of...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Saint Louis University, 2004. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-204).