Education

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Teaching

Spring Semester

Integrated Systems-Gastrointestinal, Course Director

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Research Interests

Immunogenetics, molecular biology, and population genetics, particularly of human caspase-12, a gene involved in inflammatory immune responses.

I also have the following collaborations ongoing:

with Dr. Gloria Klapstein on the pathogenesis of mouse models of Alzheimer's Disease;
with Dr. Miriam Gochin on developing cellular assays for the development of inhibitors of HIV.
with Dr Alison McCormick (COP) on the development of novel, plant-based vaccines;
with Dr H. Michael Ellerby (COP) on the development of novel therapeutics for malaria, leukemia, serum sickness, and other infectious diseases.

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Publications

1. Young JE, Gouw L, Propp S, Sopher BL, Taylor J, Lin A, Hermel E, Logvinosa, Chen SF, Chen S, Bredesen DE, Truant R, Ptacek LJ, La Spada AR, and Ellerby LM. Proteolytic cleavage of ataxin-7 by caspase-7 modulates cellular toxicity and transcriptional dysregulation. J Biol Chem 2007; 282:30150-60.

2. Gafni J, Hermel E, Young J, Wellington CL, Siman R, Hayden MR, and Ellerby LM. Inhibition of calpain cleavage of huntingtin reduces toxicity: accumulation of calpain/caspase fragments in the nucleus. J. Biol. Chem. 2004; 279:20211-20220.

3. Hermel E, Gafni J, Propp SS, Leavitt BR, Wellington CL, Young JE, Hackam AS, Logvinova AV, Peel AL, Chen SF, Hook V, Singaraja R, Krajewski S, Goldsmith PC, Ellerby HM, Salvesen GS, Hayden MR, Bredesen DE, and Ellerby LM. Specific caspase interactions and amplification are involved in selective neuronal vulnerability in Huntington's disease. Cell Death Differentiation 2004; 11:424-438.

4. Hermel E, Hart AJ, Gunduz I, Acton H, Kim C, Wurth M, Uddin S, Smith C, Fischer Lindahl K, and Aldrich CJ. Polymorphism and conservation of the genes encoding Qa1 molecules. Immunogenetics 2004; 56:639-649.

5. Rao RV, Peel A, Logvinova A, del Rio G, Hermel E, Yokota T, Goldsmith PC, Ellerby LM, Ellerby HM, and Bredesen DE. Coupling endoplasmic reticulum stress to the cell death program: role of the ER chaperone GRP78. FEBS Letters 2002; 25777:1-7.

6. Chun T, Hermel E, Gaskins HR, and Aldrich CJ. CTL and cDNA sequence analyses of the MHC class Ib molecule Qa1 in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. Immunogenetics 2001; 53:506-510.

7. Rao R, Hermel E, Castro-Obregon S, Logvinova A, Del Rio G, Ellerby LM, Goldsmith PC, Ellerby HM, and Bredesen DE. Coupling endoplasmic reticulum stress to the cell death program: mechanism of caspase activation. J. Biol. Chem. 2001; 276:33869-33874.

8. Hermel E, Smith C, and Aldrich CJ. Allogeneic responses to the class Ib antigen Qa1: limited TcR V? but not V? chain usage. Immunogenetics 2000; 51:600-605.

9. Chun T, Hermel E, Aldrich CJ, and Gaskins HR. Porcine LMP7 proteasome subunit cDNA cloning and expression analysis. Immunogenetics 1999; 49:72-77.

10. Hermel E, Han M, Hague B, Kindt T, and Monaco JJ. Isolation and mapping of the DM genes of rabbit. Implications for the evolution of the DM family. Immunogenetics 1999; 49:295-302.

11. Hermel E, Hart A, Miller R, and Aldrich CJ. CTL and sequence analysis of MHC class IB antigens Qa1c (H2-T23r) and Qa1d (H2-T23f ). Immunogenetics 1999; 49:712-717.

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Research Grants

2008 Co-PI, RC1, Novel Drugs to Permit the Safe Use of Heterologous Passive Immunization for Malaria and Other Infectious Diseases. (Direct plus indirect ~$768,000). NIH H. Michael Ellerby, co-PI. Touro University-CA, Vallejo, CA. submitted.

2008 Collaborator, R21, Improved idiotype immunotherapy for lymphoma by RNA vaccine delivery. (Direct costs $250,000, total $416,750). NIH/NIAID Alison A. McCormick, PI. Touro University-CA, Vallejo, CA. submitted.

2008 Collaborator, R01, Structure-based discovery and development of HIV-1 gp41 fusion inhibitors. (Direct costs $1,438,660). NIH/NIGMS Miriam Gochin, PI. Touro University-CA, Vallejo, CA. submitted.


2005 Primary Investigator, Intramural Pilot Project Grant: Population Genetics and Characterization of Human Caspase-12, (Direct costs 40,000). Touro University-CA.

2003 Collaborator, RO1 NS40251 Triplet Repeat Disease: Requirement for Caspase Cleavage (Direct costs $1,150,000; Total $2,140,000; 9/02/03-8/31/08). NIH, Lisa Ellerby, PhD, PI. Buck Institute for Age Research, Novato, CA.

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