Health Research Scientist, Miami VAHCS Professor and Co-Director of Research in Urology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Contact Information Location: Department of Urology, Research Laboratory, Gautier Medical Research Building, Room 403 Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami 1011 NW 15th Street, Miami, Florida 33136 Office Phone: 305-243-1012 Lab Phone: 305-243-1017 Fax: 305-243-9724 Email: blokeshw@med.miami.edu Affiliations VA Research Service, GRECC Department of Urology and Radiation Oncology, Miller School of Medicine Education
Undergraduate & Graduate Master of Science (Honors), MSc (Hon.); Biological Sciences (Major) Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India. Graduate (Ph.D.): Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India Post-Graduate Training Section on Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri (USA) Description of Research Expertise Research Interests -Tumor progression and metastasis in prostate, bladder and kidney cancers. -Role of matrix degrading enzymes and their inhibitors in cancer metastasis and angiogenesis -Role of inflammatory chemokines and their receptors in cancer progression. -Development of Therapeutics based on natural compounds. Key Words Prostate, bladder and kidney cancer, Cancer biology, tumor metastasis, Inflammatory Factors in Cancer, Development of Therapeutics based on natural Research description In Brief: My research program is focused on the mechanism of cancer progression and enhancing existing system of therapy. We are engaged in investigating the role of CXC chemokines and their receptors (CXCRs) that contribute to chronic inflammation, transformation, and accelerate the progression of the disease. My research group is engaged in identifying the mechanism of CXCR up-regulation and its impact on cancer progression. In addition, the laboratory is engaged in translational research, where the group is investigating the potential use of a pair of natural products that show promising results in laboratory models of prostate and breast cancers. These agents not only kill tumor cells selectively, but also reverse malignant progression of newly transformed epithelial cells by inhibiting epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). The mechanism of action of these products are being investigated using molecular and cell biological approaches, such as RNA interference, conditional over-expression, site directed mutagenesis, promoter assays, quantitative mRNA and protein analysis, cell cycle analysis, fluorescence microscopy and the use of transgenic animal models. Furthermore, other projects include development of new markers for renal cell cancers that may help us non-invasively detect kidney cancers or help us in disease prognosis. Representative Publication 1.Singh RK, Lokeshwar BL. Depletion of intrinsic expression of Interleukin-8 in prostate cancer cells causes cell cycle arrest, spontaneous apoptosis and increases the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs. Molecular Cancer. 2009 Jul 31;8:57. 2.Shamaladevi N, Lyn DA, Escudero DE, Lokeshwar BL. Chemokine receptor-1 (CXCR1) silencing inhibits androgen-independent prostate cancer. Cancer Research 2009, (In Press). 3.Caruso DJ, Carmack AJK, Lokeshwar VB, Duncan, RC, Soloway MS, Lokeshwar BL. Osteopontin and Interleukin-8 are independently associated with prostate cancer recurrence. Clin. Can. Res. 2008; 14(13) 4111-18. 4.Araki S, Omori Y, Lyn D, Singh RK, Sandman Y, Meinbach, DM, Lokeshwar VB, Lokeshwar BL. Interleukin-8 is a molecular determinant of androgen-independence and progression of prostate cancer. Cancer Res. 2007;67(14):6854-62.
SAMPLE Picture John A. Doe, M.D. (VA Title) Research Scientist (Optional, UM Title) Professor of Emergency Medicine, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI Miller School of Medicine Contact Information Location: Research Service VAMC (151), Room 2A102, 1201 NW 16th street, Miami FL 33125 Office Phone: 305-575-3719 Lab Phone: 305-575-3431 Fax: 305-575-3126 Email: Affiliations (VA) Miami VA Research Service (UM) Division of Cardiology and Critical Care Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine Education Undergraduate and Graduate B.A.
Central High School, Philadelphia, PA, 1953.
B.S. (Summa Cum Laude: honors in chemistry)
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 1956.
M.D.
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 1960. Post-Graduate Training
Post-doctoral Fellow -- Department of Physiology, Division of Graduate Medicine, (Pennsylvania Plan Post-doctoral Fellow) , University of Pennsylvania with Drs. Richard Hyde and Arthur DuBois, 1966-1968.
Intern and Resident in Medicine , University Hospitals, Cleveland,Ohio, 1960-1961.
Fellow (Sabbatical) -- Department of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Pennsylvania with Dr. John R. Williamson, 1971-1971.
Resident in Pulmonary Medicine, (Pennsylvania Thoracic Society Fellow), Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 1965-1966.
Intern and Resident in Medicine, University Hospitals, Cleveland,Ohio, 1964-1965. Certifications
American Board of Internal Medicine, 1967.
National Board of Medical Examiners, 1961. Description of Research Expertise Research Interests (list topic areas): -Membrane protein and phospholipid trafficking in lung epithelial cells
-Control of lung lipoprotein synthesis and secretion
-Lipid and protein oxidation in ischemia-reperfusion injury. Key Words (list key words), Oxidants, antioxidant enzymes, cell signaling, endothelial cells, mechanotransduction, antioxidant enzymes, ischemia-reperfusion, lung surfactant, phospholipids. In Brief: (Maximum of three paragraphs) My area of research focuses on …. Oxidant stress is being increasingly recognized as a mechanism for tissue injury. The range of pathologies includes diseases associated with ischemia/reperfusion, tissue inflammation, and exposure to redox active toxins including environmental pollutants. My laboratory utilizes the breathing of oxygen at high concentrations and exposure to the herbicide paraquat as models of oxidant stress. The special focus is on lung injury and especially on biochemical manifestations of lipid and protein oxidation. Additional emphasis is placed upon the role of antioxidant enzymes with a special focus on the recently described novel peroxidases that constitute the peroxiredoxin family. Reactive oxygen species are involved not only in tissue pathology but are now recognized as important signaling molecules. Our laboratory studies the role of ROS in signaling during the early phases of tissue ischemia. The basis for the signaling effect is altered mechanotransduction of the endothelial cells related to loss of shear stress with ischemia. These events result in a signaling cascade leading to release of NO and tissue angiogenesis.
A second area of research relates to lung surfactant, a phospholipid protein complex that is secreted by the lung alveolar epithelium and serves to promote lung stability by reducing the surface tension at the air-liquid interface in the alveolar space. The surfactant components following secretion are endocytosed and reprocessed intracellularly, thus constituting a secretion-recycling pathway. Current interest in our laboratory is in the role of peroxiredoxin 6 as a novel phospholipase A2 enzyme that is involved in the degradation of internalized surfactant phospholipids and in the provision of substrate for phospholipid resynthesis. Representative Publication (five latest publications – sample below) Powell, C., M. Wright and R. Jackson. p38mapk and MEK1/2 inhibition contribute to cellular oxidant injury after hypoxia. Am J Physiol (Lung Cell Molec Physiol) 286: L826-L833, 2004. http://ajplung.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/00119.2003v1.pdf Shah, N., P. Noble, R. Jackson, T. King, S. Nathan, M. Padilla, G. Raghu, M. Rhodes, M. Schwarz, G. Tino and R. Dubois. A critical assessment of treatment options for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Sarcoidosis, Vasculitis and Diffuse Lung Diseases 22: 167-174, 2005. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt =AbstractPlus&list_uids=16315778&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum Jackson, R. and R. Garcia-Rojas. Kinase activity, Hsp27 phosphorylation and lung epithelial cell glutathione. Exp. Lung Research 34(5): 245-262, 2008. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a792973715~db=all~order =page Etanercept for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Lessons on clinical trial design. Jackson, R., and C. Fell. Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. In press, 2008 (Invited editorial). Jackson, R., C. Ramos, A. LaPerričre, M. Glassberg, P. Bejarăno, O. Gomez- Marin. Vasodilator therapy and exercise tolerance in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: A randomized placebo controlled trial of sildenafil. Submitted, 2008. |
