NUTRITION

            
               Maria Hatzoglou, PhD
            Professor

            BSTP Trainer

Background

Maria Hatzoglou graduated from the University of Thessaloniki in Greece in 1981, majoring in Chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in 1985 from the Department of Biology of the University of Athens, where she studied the structure/function of HnRNPs and mechanisms of RNA splicing.

Dr. Hatzoglou completed her postdoctoral studies at CWRU, Department of Biochemistry, where she studied the regulation of expression of genes contained in retroviruses after infection of cells in vitro and in vivo. She joined the faculty in the Department of Nutrition in 1991. Her honors include a fellowship from the National Hellenic Research Foundation, a Basil O'Conor Award from the March of Dimes, a Grant in Aid from the American Heart Association and an NIH new investigator award.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Our laboratory is interested in exploring ways of retrovirus mediated genetic treatment of inborn errors in metabolism in the prenatal liver which carries a genetic defect. Retroviruses infect their target cells by recognizing specific cell surface receptors. It has recently become apparent that retroviruses invade cells by using as receptors cell surface proteins which have an essential function for the cellular metabolism. The mouse ecotropic retroviruses infect cells by using as a receptor a cationic amino acid transporter protein (CAT-1). There are two major areas of focus in our lab:

1. Study the regulation of expression of the genes which encode for the ecotropic retroviral receptor, such as to develop more efficient strategies for retrovirus mediated gene transfer into somatic cells. Transgenic mice expressing the viral receptor in the liver will be used to study the compatibility of transcription units for tissue specific expression of the proviral genes in hepatocytes.

2. Study the regulation of expression of the viral receptor gene focusing on the function of the protein as an amino acid transporter. The transport of cationic amino acids in mammalian cells is mediated by a family of cationic amino acid transporters (CATs) which are expressed in a tissue specific manner. CAT-1 is rather ubiquitously expressed in rat and mouse tissues except the liver and plays an important role in mediating the amino acid transport and metabolism in different tissues, including arginine homeostasis. We have shown that the expression of the CAT-1 in the liver is tightly regulated by hormones and diet and its expression is associated with cell growth. In support of this is that phorbol esters induce expression of the CAT-1 gene in dividing cells in a protein synthesis dependent manner. Our goal is to identity the cellular processes (protein and polyamine synthesis, arginine metabolism and NO synthesis that CAT-1 is linked to in the liver and study the regulation of expression of the CAT-1 gene. We have presently isolated the gene and the promoter flanking region and we are performing structure/function studies in response to hormones.

Post-Doctoral Research Training Opportunities with Dr. Hatzoglou

Pre-Doctoral Research Training Opportunities with Dr. Hatzoglou


PUBLICATIONS

PubMed

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