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Research Interests of Faculty
| Linda R. Adkison, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics: investigating mobile elements composed of long interspersed repeated elements (LINEs), highly repeated short interspersed elements (SINEs), and small RNA pseudogenes and processed mRNAs, most notibly Alu and B1 and B2 SINEs; role of stress on development and behavior in Drosophila model; genotypic variation at the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) locus in women with hypertension. |  | | | | | Michael N. Horst, Ph.D., Professor: biosynthesis of chitin in fungi and invertebrates; adhesion of Pneumocystis, Cryptosporidium, and Candida albicans; effects of pesticides on chitin synthesis by animals. |  | | | | | Walter H. Newman , Ph.D., Professor: biology of cytokines in vascular smooth muscle cells; regulation production and release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF); role of the nuclear regulatory factor, NF-kB; cellular mechanism of tolerance to NO producing vasodilator drugs, like nitroglycerin. |  | | | | | John Sippel, Ph.D., Professor: rapid diagnosis of Gram-negative infections, identification and extraction of diagnostically significant antigens and production of monoclonal antibodies. |  | | | | | Ananda Weerasuriya, Ph.D., Professor: regulation of peripheral nerve microenvironment, mechanisms for maintaining the endoneurial microenvironment surrounding axons and glial cells in peripheral nerves, carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetic neuropathy, traumatic nerve degeneration and regeneration; neurobiology of rapidly executed ballistic movements, characterization of group of neurons that orchestrate the activity of muscles involved in ballistic movement. |  | | | | | Rudolfs K. Zalups, Ph.D., Professor: effects of mercury and heavy metals on the kidney, mercury transport and handling in kidney. |  | Attention Faculty: Would you like your research listed? If so, please fill out our new "Faculty Research Profile". Click here to learn more! | | | | Kristina Detmer, Ph.D., Associate Professor: haematopoietic cytokines in the differentiation of haematopoietic progenitors. |  | | | | Ron E. Garner, Ph.D., Associate Professor: tumor induced immune dysfunction; intestinal immunity; immunoregulatory properties of fungal products; the process of antigen capture and processing; biofilms.
|  | | | | | Wayne Glasgow, Ph.D., Associate Professor: role of bioactive lipids in cell proliferation, differentiation, and transformation; characterization of regulation of epidermal growth factor-dependent fibroblast proliferation by metabolites of arachidonic and linoleic acid; involvement of arachidonic and linoleic acid metabolism in the transformation process induced by the analogous tyrosine kinase of the erbB oncogene family; determination of mechanism(s) by which tyrosine kinases regulate metabolism of arachidonic and linoleic acid in tumor cells; identification of cellular targets of metabolites that modulate mitogenic or apoptotic signal transduction. | 
| | | | Balint Kacsoh, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor: regulation and effects of prolactin and growth hormone; involvement of the whn transcription factor in breast cancer, smooth muscle cells, and prolactin signaling; involvement of cannabionids in the regulation of prolactin; regulation of growth hormone in newborn rats; role of prolactin in regulation of rapid eye movement sleep.
|  | | | | Sandra Leeper-Woodford, Ph.D., Associate Professor: sites and regulation of Tumor Necrosis Factor secretion during acute sepsis and pharmacological intervertion; acute lung injury; Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome; Septic Shock; functions of pulmonary alveolar macrophages.
|  | | | | | Tina Thompson, Ph.D., Associate Professor: how ovarian steroids, estrogen and progesterone, modulate neuronal activity in certain disease states. Modulation of dopamine transporter function by dopamine autoreceptor mediated mechanisms. Specifically interested in how developmental time periods and steroid exposure influence dopaminergic activity over the long term. This is critical for understanding the effect of early alteration in neuronal activity on adult brain function. Professional subject interests: Curricullum development. Assessment and evaluation.
Current research projects: Developmental and steroidal regulation of mesolimbic dopamine uptake.
|  | | | | | Henry E. Young, Ph.D., Associate Professor: identifying the stem cells and signaling factors that promote functional tissue replacement and repair. |  | | | | | Janet F. Piskurich, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Immunology: Professional subject interests: Immunology, Control of Antigen Presentation, Tumor Immunology, Multiple Myeloma, Autoimmune Diseases, Multiple Sclerosis Current research projects: Control of MHC expression and of the expression of other genes that participate in antigen presentation in tumors by CIITA and PRDI-BF1.
Research Description: The primary research interest of this laboratory is the control of genes involved in immune processes. We are currently exploring ways to control the production of CIITA, an immune factor that is key to both desirable immune responses to tumors and undesirable immune responses in autoimmune diseases. The CIITA gene has multiple promoters and start sites that are utilized in a cell-type specific manner. We are trying to identify ways that CIITA production can be controlled in cell types that are causing disease. The aim of this work is to uncover pathways useful for the development of therapies to increase the expression of CIITA in tumor cells, especially the malignant cells of a cancer called multiple myeloma, to activate the recognition and destruction of these cells by the immune system. Multiple myeloma is a cancer that affects certain white blood cells called plasma cells. Nearly 13,000 new cases are diagnosed (mostly in persons over age 60) each year. When this cancer occurs, the body overproduces plasma cells that are abnormal and alike. Multiple myeloma cells express a transcriptional repressor called PRDI-BF1, which may be suppressing the ability of these tumor cells to be recognized and destroyed by the immune system. One possibility for treating multiple myeloma is to increase the expression of CIITA and other genes involved in immune processes to increase the ability of the immune system to recognize and destroy these cells. Since we study pathways that increase MHC expression, our work is also highly relevant to the control of pathologic immune responses like autoimmune diseases whose hallmark is increased MHC expression. | 
| | | | | James L. Thomas, Ph.D., Associate Professor: reaction mechanisms of human 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/isomerase, relation of structure to function, mutagenesis of targeted amino acids to determine key structure/function relationships in two isoenzyme forms. Read More! | 
| | | | Mike U. Smith., Professor/Director of AIDS Education & Research, Internal Medicine,
Main Focus: Developing, implementing, and evaluating a peer counseling program for youth (13-25yo) living with HIV who are patients at Grady Hospital (Atlanta) Second focus: Developing an effective model for teaching the nature of science to pre-service science teachers Professional subject interests: peer education/counseling programs for HIV/STD/teen pregnancy prevention; rural HIV prevention; secondary prevention for HIV positive urban teens; teaching/learning/understanding the nature of science/philosophy of science; teaching/understanding mitosis/meiosis Current research projects: Developing a Peer Counseling Program for Young People Living with HIV |  | | | | William J. Butler, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology Professional subject interests: Genetics, Menopause, Endometriosis, ART
Current research project: Mentoring resident research | | | | | Krista Wieters, M.P.H., Community Medicine Professional subject interests: Preventing teen pregnancy, especially here in Macon; health behaviors (stop smoking, physical activity etc; weight loss; nutrition; Current research projects: air pollution and lung cancer with Dr Chen |  | | | | John Boltri, MD, Family Medicine Professional subject interests: Diabetes Mellitus prevention, Early detection of Diabetes Nellitus
Current research projects: - Using a prompt to increase early detection of diabetes in out patient primary care offices
- Church based diabetes prevention
|  | | Jonathan D. Martin, Ph.D., Basic Medical Sciences Professional subject interests: medical virology and immunology; molecular and cell biology; infectious diseases | 
| | | | | Kerry L. Coburn, Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Professional subject interests: Neuroscience, quantitative EEG, dementia, attention, neuropsychiatric disorders Current research projects: - Neurophysiology of vigilance
- Effects of nicotine on symptoms and brain activity in dementia
- qEEG diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease
- Applications of qEEG to neuropsychiatric disorders
Brief Description of Research: Applications of qEEG to the study of normal and abnormal brain processes | 
| | | | | McKinley Thomas, Community Medicine Professional subject interests: GIS / Mapping, Disease Prevention / Health Promotion / Research Methodology / HIV/AIDS / Suicide / Educational Technology / Trend Analysis and Mortality/Morbidity / Qualitative Research Methods
Current research projects: Suicide Among Elderly Females / Using Multivariate Statistics to Predict SAT / Forecasting TB Cases in the U.S. Website: http://faculty.mercer.edu/thomas_bm/
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| | | | | Susan Cline, Basic Medical Sciences Professional subject interests: DNA repair of metabollically induced DNA damage
Current research projects: Funding announcements of interest: NIH PA-07-070 Parent R01 Announcement NIH PA-06-042 Parent R15 AREA Announcement NSF PD 04-1112 Genes and Genome Systems Cluster
Specific journals you are interested in publishing in: Journal of Biological Chemistry DNA Repair Biochemistry Molecular and Cellular Biology Journal of Molecular Biology EMBO Journal
Briefly describe your research: Malondialdehyde, which is produced as a byproduct of eicosanoid biosynthesis and during lipid peroxidation, reacts with guanine to form M1dG adducts in DNA. This adduct is repaired by nucleotide excision repair (NER) in mammalian cell nuclei, but nothing is known about the formation or repair of M1dG in mitochondria. The presence of this form of damage is highly likely in mitochondria where oxidative species initiate lipid peroxidation and exacerbated under conditions where the mitochondrial electron tranport chain (ETC) is compromised, causing excessive production of reactive oxygen species.
This research follows findings presented in the 2004 publication in PNAS that revealed M1dG as a possible target of transcription-coupled NER. The hallmark of transcription-coupled repair (TCR) is the arrest of RNA polymerases, which signals for NER and leads to more efficient repair of the transcribed strand of active genes than the rest of the nuclear genome. If proven true, M1dG would be the only known metabolically-derived DNA damage subject to transcription-coupled NER. To date, only chemical modifications to DNA from environmental exposures are known to trigger TCR-NER, therefore this research provides a physiological context for the function of this pathway in tissues not exposed to chemicals or ultraviolet light. Additionally, it may provide insight into the pathophysiology of developmental syndromes arising from loss of TCR, such as Cockayne syndrome, optic neuropathies, such as Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, arising from mitochondrial ETC defects, and atheroscelerotic conditions, involving inflammation.
The general Specific Aims of the MedCen Foundation grant entitled "Repair of Inflammation-Induced DNA Damage in Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA of Human Cells" are:
I. in nuclear DNA, to examine M1dG effects on RNA synthesis, to measure the global nucleotide excision repair rate of M1dG, and to monitor strand-specific DNA repair of M1dG in active genes by transcription-coupled repair.
II. in mitochondria, to investigate the prevalence of M1dG in the mitochondrial genome and to determine the efficiency of M1dG repair. Outside Links: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed
Cline, S. D. and Hanawalt, P. C. (2003) Who's on First in the Cellular Response to DNA Damage Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 4, 361-372.
PMID: 12728270
Cline, S. D., Riggins, J. N., Tornaletti, S., Marnett, L. J. and Hanawalt, P. C. (2004) Malondialdehyde adducts in DNA arrest transcription by T7 RNA polymerase and mammalian RNA polymerase II. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 101, 7275-7280.
PMID: 15123825
Cline, S. D. and Hanawalt, P.C. (2006) Topoisomerase Deficiencies Subtly Enhance Global Genomic Repair of Ultraviolet-Induced DNA Damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. DNA Repair 5, 611-617.
PMID: 16516562
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology http://www.asbmb.org/
Environmental Mutagen Society
http://www.ems-us.org/index.asp
|  | | | Qian Wang, Ph.D. joined Mercer in January 2007 as Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Division of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Medicine. Dr. Wang attended Nanjing University, Nanjing, China for his undergraduate studies in Paleontology. He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1998 from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing. From 1999 to 2002, He was a postdoctoral research fellow in University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa. From 2003 to 2006, he did research in bone biology and taught Gross Anatomy in Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas
A & M University Health Science Center, Dallas, Texas. His research interest is in morphology and biomechanics of craniofacial skeletons and their clinical relevance. --Download CV | 
| | | | Michael J. Russell, Assistant Professor of Physiology Professional subject interests: Cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology, fluorescence microscopy of vascular smoth muscle, non-mammalian models of cardiovascular disease, mechanisms underlying hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, explant lung tissue storage. Current research projects: Isolated lung perfusion, three-axis seismocardiography, isolated vascular ring studies, calcium imaging in vascular smooth muscle cells. Funding announcements of interest: Announcements regarding heart disease, hypertension, pulmonary edema, hypoxia. Specific journals you are interested in publishing in: American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Experimental Biology, Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Physiology, Journal of Experimental Zoology Briefly describe your research: My research encompasses three areas of interest; 1)examining the most basic mechanisms of hypoxic vasoconstriction, which utilizes the sea lamprey model (collaboration with Dr. Ken Olson, Indiana University School of Medicine), 2) improving explanted lung tissue storage to minimize reperfusion injury (collaboration with Dr. Roy Russ and Dr. Z. Wang, Mercer School of Medicine), and 3) non-invasive methods for evaluating contractility in the human heart (collaboration with Dr. Randall Peters, Chair of Physics, Mercer University). |  | | | Abdelmoneim Younis, DVM, PhD, HCLD
Associate Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology Professional subject interests: Assisted Reproductive Technology. Sperm and Oocyte Biology. Fertility Preservation for cancer patients. Human Andrology and Embryology. Specific journals you are interested in publishing in: Fertility and Sterility, Human Reproduction, Human Reproductive Update, RPM, Clinical Embryology Briefly describe your research: Development of new methods for freezing human and monkey oocytes. Investigation of the role of human follicular fluid- cumulus cells-derived factors in oocyte maturation in fertility women.
Current research projects: Cryopreservation of human eggs and sperm. Proteomics of human follicle cells and oocyte maturation. Crybiology of primate gametes.
Professional subject interests: Assisted Reproductive Technology. Sperm and Oocyte Biology. Fertility Preservation for cancer patients. Human Andrology and Embryology. Website: http://www.centralgafertility.com/services.htm | 
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