Michael Kinter

Associate Professor

Ph.D. University of North Carolina, 1986
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RESEARCH DESCRIPTION

General Description: Oxidative stress is believed to contribute to tissue injury in a number of human diseases. The research activities in my laboratory are attempting to develop a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of that link oxidative stress and this tissue injury. A unique aspect of these experiments is the utilization of mass spectrometric methods of protein characterization and sequencing. Two lines of investigation are being pursued: 1) the use of proteomics to characterizing the cellular responses to oxidative stress, and 2) the characterization of the sites and chemical structures of oxidative modifications of proteins.

Specific Projects:

1. One area of investigation is using proteomics to characterize the changes in protein expression that follow uptake of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) by macrophages. These experiment are using combination of 2D electrophoresis and tandem mass spectrometry to map and identify proteins that are differentially expressed in response to oxLDL treatment. The hypothesis being tested is that the differentiation of macrophages into foam cells that is induced by oxLDL is accompanied by changes in protein expression that define the foam cell phenotype. Further, we believe that these changes include both increased expression of proteins that contribute significantly to the aberrant actions of foam cells that play a role in the initiation and progression of the atherosclerotic lesion, and decreased expression of proteins that might otherwise control such actions.


2. The second area of investigation in the laboratory is using tandem mass spectrometry to characterize the site and structure of oxidative modifications to proteins. One theory of how oxidative stress affects cells is that key proteins become modified in a manner that alters their function. The exact nature of these modifications, however, is not well understood. It is envisioned that the specific structures that are detected and characterized will provide new information about the oxidation reactions leading to those modifications. Further, we expect that as our understanding of the site and structure of oxidative modifications is advanced it will be possible to identify new molecular markers to monitor the effects oxidative stress in vivo. An important model in these experiments is the oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein.

RELATED RESEARCH AREAS

View Michael Kinter's Publications on PubMed