Page 25 - CBAC Newsletter 2015

The lab is successfully working on several exciting Urusova DV, Shim JH, Kim DJ, Jung SK, Zykova TA,
projects and I hope to contribute to the lab projects Carper A, Bode AM, Dong Z. Epigallocatechin-gal-
progress with my molecular biology, biochemistry late suppresses tumorigenesis by directly targeting
and protein crystallography expertise, and am Pin1. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2011 Sep;4(9):1366-
currently studying how phosphorylation alters 77. Epub 2011 Jul 12. PMCID: PMC3244823
intracellular loop conformations.
Zykova TA, Zhu F, Vakorina TI, Zhang J, Higgins LA,
It has been established that inherited mutations Urusova DV, Bode AM, Dong Z. T-LAK cell-origi-
in the gene encoding the NaV1.5 sodium channel nated protein kinase (TOPK) phosphorylation of
including mutations in the intracellular loops, have Prx1 at Ser-32 prevents UVB-inducedapoptosis in
been associated with Brugada (BrS) and Long QT RPMI7951 melanoma cells through the regulation
syndromes (LQTS). Also, the post-translational of Prx1 peroxidase activity. J Biol Chem. 2010 Sep
modifications and particularly the phosphorylation 17;285(38):29138-46. Epub 2010 Jul 20.
of these loops, may be important in acquired PMCID: PMC2937944
arrhythmias. I hope that my biophysical
characterization of these purified loops will help
to elucidate the mechanism of these effects.

Past Work and Future Plans

Yet, I believe that my most important research
achievement still lies ahead. Among my past, I
count the crystal structure of D-Serine Dehydratase
from E.coli, which I carried out in collaboration with
University of Wuerzburg, Germany and Daresbury
Laboratory, UK. I crystallized the protein in two
different crystal forms that allowed to solve the
structure of the protein by a non-traditional method
of multi-crystal averaging. [see: Darya V. Urusova
et. al. Crystal structure of D-serine dehydratase
from Escherichia coli. Biochimica et Biophysica
Acta (BBA) - Proteins and Proteomics. 2012; 1824:
422-432.] PMID: 22197591

Recent Publications

Urusova DV, Isupov MN, Antonyuk S, Kachalova GS,
Obmolova G, Vagin AA, Lebedev AA, Burenkov GP,
Dauter Z, Bartunik HD, Lamzin VS, Melik-Adamyan
WR, Mueller TD, Schnackerz KD. Crystal structure
of D-serine dehydratase from Escherichia coli.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2012 Mar;1824(3):422-32.
Epub 2011 Nov 27. PMID: 22197591

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