The University of Texas Medical Branch NHLBI Proteomics Center at Galveston

Director: Alexander Kurosky, PhD

Visit the website > 

The UTMB National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the NIH Proteomics Center serving as the home for one of seven newly awarded national Proteomics Centers funded by the NHLBI brings the power of multiple analytical technologies to proteomics research focusing on airway inflammation relating to asthma, allergy, and respiratory viruses. The Center consists of seven multi- disciplinary teams of scientists and physician-scientists to study protein expression associated with signaling pathways important in lung diseases. In addition, the Center is engaged in the development of innovative technologies for application to proteomics research. The NHLBI proteomics initiative was established to enhance and develop innovative proteomics technologies and apply them to biological questions relevant to heart, lung, blood, and sleep health and disease.

A major ongoing project in Dr. Kurosky's laboratory relates to a better understanding of the function of eosinophils and their involvement in inflammatory diseases. Eosinophils are bone marrow-derived granulocytes that are abundant in inflammatory infiltrates of many pathologic processes. Furthermore, an important component of this research relates to cell signaling especially relating to eosinophil activation. Important also to these studies are the structure and function of protein complexes found in eosinophils and their subsequent alteration in various disease states, including component dynamic flux. Overall, these studies employ a variety of protein fractionation and characterization technologies.

Links