Dr. John J. LaPres

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Michigan State University
College of Natural Science
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Associate ProfessorAppointed: 2006
Professional Headshot of John J. LaPres

Mailing Address

224 Biochemistry Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan 48824
United States

Contact Information

Phone: (517) 432-9282
Fax: (517) 353-9334
lapres@msu.edu
http://www.bch.msu.edu/faculty/lapres.htm

Qualifications

Ph.D., Northwestern University, Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology, 1997.
B.S., University of Michigan, Chemistry, 1987.

Expertise and Research Interests

The LaPres laboratory is focused on the PAS superfamily of transcription factors. PAS proteins (named for the first identified members, Per, ARNT and Sim) are transcription factors that play a central role in sensing and coping with changes in various environmental cues. The goal of this research is to completely understand the signaling cascades of certain PAS proteins and how they mediate their pleiotropic effects on biological systems following exposure to various environmental pollutants, including divalent metals and dioxins. The work focuses on two PAS proteins in particular, the hypoxia inducible factor 1alpha (HIF1alpha) and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and the role they play in modulating the toxicity of metals and dioxins, respectively. The laboratory is trying to identify novel proteins and signaling cascades that might influence these two transcription factors and therefore control their ability to mediate normal biological responses and aberrent signaling leading to toxicity. In addition, the lab wants to characterize how HIF1alpha and the hypoxia signaling cascade influences cell cycle and cellular transformation. Hypoxia and HIF1alpha are critical to the development and progression of cancer and recent research from Dr. LaPres' lab and others suggest that HIF1alpha plays an early role in a cell's commitment to the transformed phenotype. The laboratory uses a wide range of experimental techniques, including proteomic, metabolomic and genomic technology, to gain novel insights into PAS protein signaling mechanisms and to ascertain possible mechanisms for their complex biological responses.

Keywords

COS Keywords:

Biochemistry, Hypoxia, Oncology, Toxicology, Tumors.

Additional Terms:

AHR, Cobalt, Dioxin, FKBP, Hypoxia, Nickel.

Languages

(Reading, Writing, Speaking)

English: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)

Memberships

American Association for the Advancement of Science
Society of Toxicology

Previous Positions

2000-2006, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, College of Natural Science, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
1997-2000, Postdoctoral, McArdle Laboratories for Cancer Research, Oncology

Funding Received

  • Superfund basic research program: Environmental, microbial, and mammalian, 2006 to 2012.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): Hypoxia and epigenetic mechanisms for toxicity, 2005 to 2009.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): New methods in phosphoproteomics, $160,000/year, 2004 to 2009.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): Proteomics and the Dioxin Signaling Network, $150,000/year, 2002 to 2004.

Publications

  • Saini Y, Kim KY, Lewandowski R, Bramble LA, Harkema JR, Lapres JJ (Nov 2009) The Role of Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1{alpha} (HIF1{alpha}) in Modulating Cobalt-Induced Lung Inflammation., American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology Abstract
  • Wang B, Bobe G, LaPres JJ, Bourquin LD (2009) High sucrose diets promote intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in APC(Min) mice by increasing insulin and IGF-I levels., Nutrition and cancer, 61 (1), 81-93 Abstract
  • Wang B, Bobe G, LaPres JJ, Bourquin LD (2009) Dietary carbohydrate source alters gene expression profile of intestinal epithelium in mice., Nutrition and cancer, 61 (1), 146-55 Abstract
  • Saini Y, Harkema JR, LaPres JJ (Nov 2008) HIF1alpha is essential for normal intrauterine differentiation of alveolar epithelium and surfactant production in the newborn lung of mice., The Journal of biological chemistry, 283 (48), 33650-7 Abstract
  • Lee, K.A., Lynd, JD, O'Reilly, S., Kiupel, M., McCormick, JJ, LaPres, JJ (2008) The biphasic role of the hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl-4-hydroxylase, PHD2, in modulating tumor-forming potential, Mol. Cancer Res, 6 (5), 829-42
  • Lee, K., Roth, R.A., LaPres, J.J. (2007) Hypoxia, drug therapy and toxicity., Pharmacol Ther., 113 (2), 229-46
  • Lee, K.A., Burgoon, L.D, Gier, L.E., Dere, E., Zacharewski, , T.R., Hogenesch, J.B., LaPres, J.J. (2006) Identification and characterization of genes susceptible to transcriptional cross-talk between the hypoxia and dioxin signaling cascades, Chem. Res. Toxicology, 19 (10), 1284-93
  • Irwin, R., LaPres, J.J., Kinser, S.,, McCabe, L.R. (2007) Prolyl hydroxylase inhibition and HIF activation in osteoblasts promotes an adipocyte phenotype, J. Cell Biochem., 100 (3), 762-72
  • Vengellur, A., Hogensch, J., and LaPres, J.J., Gene expression profiling of hypoxia signaling in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells, Physiological Genomics, 22, 308-318, 2005
  • Vengellur, A. and LaPres, J.J., The Role of Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1-alpha in Cobalt chloride induced cell death in mouse embryonic fibroblasts, Tox. Sci., 82(2), 638-646, 2004
  • Zacharewski, T.Z. and LaPres, J.J., Transcription Factors: Genomic Approaches to the Study of Transcription Factors, Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, 166, 69-93, 2004
  • Vengellur, A., Woods, B. G., Ryan, H. E., Johnson, R. S., and LaPres, J. J., Gene expression profiling of the hypoxia signaling pathway in hypoxia inducible factor 1 null mouse embryonic fibroblasts, Gene Expression, 11, 181-197, 2003
  • LaPres JJ, Glover E, Dunham EE, Bunger MK, Bradfield CA, ARA9 modifies agonist signaling through an increase in cytosolic aryl hydrocarbon receptor, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 275(9), 6153-9, 2000 Abstract
  • Carver LA, LaPres JJ, Jain S, Dunham EE, Bradfield CA, Characterization of the Ah receptor-associated protein, ARA9, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 273(50), 33580-7, 1998 Abstract
  • Monzon RI, LaPres JJ, Hudson LG, Regulation of involucrin gene expression by retinoic acid and glucocorticoids, Cell Growth and Differentiation, 7(12), 1751-9, December 1996 Abstract
  • LaPres JJ, Hudson LG, Identification of a functional determinant of differentiation-dependent expression in the involucrin gene, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271(38), 23154-60, 1996 Abstract
  • Clark WA, Rudnick SJ, Andersen LC, LaPres JJ, Myosin heavy chain synthesis is independently regulated in hypertrophy and atrophy of isolated adult cardiac myocytes, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 269(41), 25562-9, 1994 Abstract

Profile Details

Last Updated: 11/18/2009

COS Expertise ID #877785
Reference this profile directly: http://myprofile.cos.com/lapres