(from the application): The importance of deciphering basic mechanisms of apoptosis, both for understanding the pathogenesis and designing treatment for the many diseases featuring cell death dysregulation, has become increasingly clear over the past several years. Apoptosis has been implicated in age-associated degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, developmental neurodegenerative conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy, progressive myoclonus epilepsy and Batten's disease, stroke, neoplasias (which also have a strong age association), autoimmune diseases, myocardial infarction, retinal degeneration, and other diseases. To answer the surge of interest in apoptosis over the past several years, in 1996 we established a postdoctoral training program mentored by an experienced group of interactive apoptosis investigators. The training program takes advantage of the high concentration of experienced and highly active apoptosis researchers at the Burnham Institute (John Reed, Dale Bredesen, Guy Salvesen, Steven Frisch, Erkki Ruoslahti, Kathryn Ely, Nuria Assa-Munt and Stuart Lipton) and the nearby La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (Douglas Green, Carl Ware and Donald Newmeyer). This program offers individuals who have recently received the Ph.D. or M.D. degree, and who have demonstrated exceptional potential and dedication for a career in research, a wide array of proven approaches to the study of the basic mechanisms and disease relevance of apoptosis. Specifically, advantages of the proposed program include the active faculty (with over 300 publications in the field), the local biomedical community (which includes the Salk Institute, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, the University of California, and several area biotech/ pharmaceutical companies with active efforts in apoptosis), a strong history of training fellows in this area, and a large number of complementary approaches and techniques. These include an embryonal stem cell facility, cell-free and simple genetic apoptosis systems (developed by members of the program), structural biology (both X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance), phage display, yeast 2-hybrid systems, computational biology, protein purification, physical chemistry techniques, and others. Trainees completing the program are highly qualified to become successful independent scientists. We seek a renewal of this successful fledgling program.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
5T32AG000252-06
Application #
6629648
Study Section
National Institute on Aging Initial Review Group (NIA)
Program Officer
Sierra, Felipe
Project Start
1997-06-15
Project End
2004-04-30
Budget Start
2003-05-01
Budget End
2004-04-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$176,151
Indirect Cost
Name
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
020520466
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92037
Alirezaei, Mehrdad; Watry, Debbie D; Flynn, Claudia F et al. (2007) Human immunodeficiency virus-1/surface glycoprotein 120 induces apoptosis through RNA-activated protein kinase signaling in neurons. J Neurosci 27:11047-55
Newman, Ruchi M; Salunkhe, Prabhakar; Godzik, Adam et al. (2006) Identification and characterization of a novel bacterial virulence factor that shares homology with mammalian Toll/interleukin-1 receptor family proteins. Infect Immun 74:594-601
Damiano, Jason S; Newman, Ruchi M; Reed, John C (2004) Multiple roles of CLAN (caspase-associated recruitment domain, leucine-rich repeat, and NAIP CIIA HET-E, and TP1-containing protein) in the mammalian innate immune response. J Immunol 173:6338-45
Bonzon, C; Droin, N M; Maurer, U et al. (2002) Death in paradise. Cell Death Differ 9:780-2
Gu, Zezong; Kaul, Marcus; Yan, Boxu et al. (2002) S-nitrosylation of matrix metalloproteinases: signaling pathway to neuronal cell death. Science 297:1186-90
Rao, Rammohan V; Peel, Alyson; Logvinova, Anna et al. (2002) Coupling endoplasmic reticulum stress to the cell death program: role of the ER chaperone GRP78. FEBS Lett 514:122-8
Benedict, C A; Norris, P S; Prigozy, T I et al. (2001) Three adenovirus E3 proteins cooperate to evade apoptosis by tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor-1 and -2. J Biol Chem 276:3270-8
Rooney, I A; Benedict, C A; Norris, P S et al. (2001) Methods of study of tumor necrosis factor-related ligands in apoptosis. Methods Cell Biol 66:499-526
Benedict, C A; Banks, T A; Senderowicz, L et al. (2001) Lymphotoxins and cytomegalovirus cooperatively induce interferon-beta, establishing host-virus detente. Immunity 15:617-26
Rao, R V; Hermel, E; Castro-Obregon, S et al. (2001) Coupling endoplasmic reticulum stress to the cell death program. Mechanism of caspase activation. J Biol Chem 276:33869-74

Showing the most recent 10 out of 14 publications