Alakesh Bera Lecturer II Office Phone: (210) 458-5757 Office: BSE 1.344 E-Mail Areas of Specialization Research: • Protein structure- function relationship and structure-based drug design • Micro-RNA based gene regulation and cell signaling in pancreatic cancer • Molecular virology Teaching: • Basic Chemistry • Introduction of basic principles of chemistry and physics in biology Research Interests Role of micro-RNA in pancreatic cancer progress and chemo-resistance: We are currently involved in determining the molecular events that promote pancreatic cancer (PDAC) progress and resistant against chemotherapy. Our goal is to identify cell signaling networks that can be targeted to reverse chemo-resistance, or, alternatively, direct clinicians to alternative therapeutic interventions when resistance occurs. Data from our experiments reveal that gemcitabine (a standard drug for pancreatic cancer) resistant cells show properties similar to cells undergoing EMT phenotype and also express the cancer stem cell markers. Data also showed a specific micro-RNA expression profile for these phenomena. Taken together, our experiments suggest that gemcitabine treatment of pancreatic cancer selects for a population of tumor cells that have a mesenchymal/stem cell-like phenotype, and that these cells express a distinct miRNA profile. Further study of these miRNAs may provide novel targets for restoring or enhancing anti-tumor responses of gemcitabine. We are also exploring the parallel field of pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis. We showed that the activation of K-ras and concomitant loss of Smad 4 induces invasion through nuclear translocation of NF- κB. We also showed a link between NF- κB mediated induction of invasion and metastasis in pancreatic cancer. Education 1999
Universite d’Orleans, Orleans, France PhD
2006-08 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Awards and Honors 2010-2012 CPRIT-Grant: Fellowship in Innovation for Cancer Prevention Research 2003-2006 Doctoral fellowship, from Scientific Council of ‘Indo-French Collaboration for the advancement of scientific research’. 2001 CSIR-UGC (NET) Research fellowship offered by Govt. Of India (Short listed for Shyama Prasad Mukherjee fellowship) 2001 GATE, Indian Institute of Technology 1995-1999 National Scholarship for higher studies: Award offered by Govt. of India Selected Publications Research Articles: 1) Nandi P. K., Bera A. and Sizaret P-Y (2006) Osmolyte trimethylamine N-Oxide converts recombinant -helical prion protein to its soluble β-structured form at high temperature. J. Mol. Biol. 362: 810–820 2) Bera, A. and P.K. Nandi (2007) Biological polyamines inhibit nucleic-acid-induced polymerization of prion protein. Arch Virol. 152(4): 655-68 3) Bera A, Roche AC, Nandi PK (2007) Bending and unwinding of nucleic acid by prion protein. Biochemistry. 46(5):1320-8 4) Bera, A and Mandal, A (2009) Prion disease- Molecular basis and biological significance. Ind. J. Animal Production (IJAP).38 (1):1-18 5) Henson B, Johnson N, Bera A, Okoye M, Desai K and Prashant J. Desai. Expression of the HSV-1 capsid protein VP19C 1 in E.coli: A single amino acid change overcomes an expression block of the full-length polypeptide. Protein Expr Purif. (2011) 77(1): 80-5. 6) Hanson B, Gebrekristos L, Bera A, Person S and Desai P. Nuclear localization of HSV-1VP19C can be mediated by paired arginine residues, arg56 and arg57. Journal of General Virology (in revision) 7) Bera A, Friend S, Kuhne K, George T and S-J Gao. Expression and sub-cellular localization of the novel transcriptional repressor KLIP1 is regulated in a cell cycle dependent manner. (Manuscript in preparation for Journal of Cell Biology) 8) Bera A., Perkins EM., and Desai P. DNA Binding and Condensation Properties of the Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Triplex Protein VP19C (Communicated to Journal of Virololgy) 9) Bera A., Deasi P. An Amphipathic Alpha Helix Containing a Potential NES Present in the C-terminal Domain of the VP19C of HSV-1 Having Antimicrobial Property (submitted in J Ped Biochem.)
10) Bera A., Zhao S., Cao L and Freeman JW. Oncogenic K-Ras and loss of Smad4 induce invasion through an EGFR/MMP9/uPA axis dependent pathway in human pancreas progenitor cells (Manuscript is ready to submit in Int. Journal of Cancer) 11) Bera, A. Kolaparthi V-S R, Hill P, Zhao S, and Freeman J. Gemcitabine resistance is associated with EMT phenotype along with expression of cancer stem cell markers and a specific miRNA profile in the human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC3. (Manuscript is ready to submit in JBC) International Conference/Abstract: 1) Nandi, P. K, Bera, A. and Sizaret, P-Y: Osmolyte Trimethylamine N-oxide converts recombinant α-Helical Prion Protein PrPC to
soluble β-PrPSc :Oral presentation, Joint Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory/Wellcome Trust Conference on PRION BIOLOGY: London, UK; Sept 7 – 11, 2005 2) Bera, A. and P.K. Nandi: Biological amines prevent nucleic acid catalysed prion protein polymerization to amyloid: PRION 2005; International Prion congress: 19-21 Oct. 2005. Düsseldorf, Germany 3) Bera, A. and P.K. Nandi: Nucleic acid bending and condensation by Prion protein. 2nd Dominique Dommont International Conference, 1-3 December, 2005, in Paris, France 4) Bera, A. Roche, A-C. and Nandi, PK: Prion Protein Induces Sequence Dependent Condensation of Nucleic Acids. Prion 2006, Turin, Italy 4-6 October, 2006 5) Bera, A. and Desai, P: Purification and characterization of the floor domain of herpes virus major capsid protein. 32nd Annual International Herpesvirus Workshop July7-12, 2007 Asheville, NC USA 6) Bera, A. Perkins, EM. and Desai, P: DNA binding and condensation properties of the herpes simplex virus type 1 triplex protein VP19C. JHPDA Scientific Seminar Series, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. January, 2008. Baltimore, USA 7) Bera, A. Kuhne, K. and S-J Gao. Expression and sub-cellular localization of the novel transcriptional repressor KLIP1 is regulated in a cell cycle dependent manner. 1st Genome Research Day. Aug 2010. UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 8) Kolaparthi VenkataSubbaRao, Ping Hill, Shujie Zhao, Alakesh Bera and James W. Freeman. Resistance against Gemcitabine is associated with an increase in EMT and Expression of cancer stem cell markers in Human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC3 . 13th Annual South Padre Island Symposium on Cell Signaling. Texas, Nov 11-12, 2011 9) Bera, A. Kolaparthi V-S R, Hill P, Zhao S, and Freeman J. Gemcitabine resistance is associated with EMT phenotype along with expression of cancer stem cell markers and a specific miRNA profile in the human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC3. AACR annual meeting, Chicago, IL. 2012.
Metformin inhibits leptin secretion via a mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling pathway in brown adipocytes Johannes Klein*, Sören Westphal*, Daniel Kraus, Britta Meier, Nina Perwitz, Volker Ott, Mathias Fasshauer1 and H Harald Klein2 Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany1Department of Internal Medicine III, Universit
BIJSLUITER VIAGRA 25/50/100 mg Lees de hele bijsluiter aandachtig door alvorens dit geneesmiddel in te nemen. - Bewaar deze bijsluiter. Misschien heeft u hem nog een keer nodig. - Raadpleeg uw arts of apotheker, als u aanvullende vragen heeft. - Dit geneesmiddel is alleen aan u voorgeschreven. Geef het dus niet door aan iemand anders. Het kan schadelijk voor hen zijn, zelfs als ze deze