Tulane Cancer Center Members: L
Faculty Membership Application and Membership Definitions
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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Lacey, Landry,Lasky, Lee, Leissinger, Levy, Lewis, C. Li, Marilyn Li, Min Li, Ming Li, YT Li, Lichtveld, Lustig
Michelle R. Lacey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
TCC Contributing Member
mlacey@math.tulane.edu
(504) 862-3439
Gibson Hall, Uptown Campus
6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118-5684
Homepage on the Mathematics website:
http://math.tulane.edu/faculty/lacey.html

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Lacey received her A.B. in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College in 1994. After working in industry for two years, she returned to graduate school in 1996 in the Department of Statistics at Yale University and earned her Ph.D. in 2003. While completing her dissertation, she gained considerable experience in microarray analysis as a part-time research assistant in Dr. Paul Lizardi's lab in the Department of Pathology at the Yale University School of Medicine. She joined the Department of Mathematics at Tulane University as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2003 and was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Tulane University School of Public Health in January 2004. Dr. Lacey’s research is rooted in statistical genetics, focusing on problems related to phylogeny reconstruction, and she is generally interested in the development of statistical methods for the analysis of biological data.

Selected Publications:
Samuel J. Landry, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Member, Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research TCC Contributing Member
landry@tulane.edu
(504) 988-3990, (504) 988-2739 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-43, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699
Homepage on the Biochemistry website:
http://www.tulane.edu/~biochem/faculty/landry.htm

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Landry received his B.S. in Zoology from the Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge in 1982 and then carried out doctoral studies with Dr. Sue Bartlett at LSU on protein import into chloroplasts, receiving his Ph.D. in 1988. He carried out postdoctoral studies with Dr. Lila Gierasch at Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, working on the structure and function of heat shock proteins and joined the Tulane faculty in 1993. He has published over thirty papers on heat shock protein structure and biophysics and has served on an NSF review panel.

His work employs biochemical and biophysical techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to investigate structure/function relationships in protein-protein interactions, especially those involved in cellular stress and immune responses. Molecular chaperones are implicated in a variety of cellular processes including DNA replication, gene expression, and protein translocation across membranes, in addition to the heat shock response. The goal of this research is to understand at a physical chemical level how Escherichia coli molecular chaperones cooperate in the management of protein-protein interactions. Dr. Landry's research has included study of the structural instability and T-cell epitope immunodominance. Humoral and cellular immunity to HIV and other pathogens depend on antigen-specific CD4+ T cell responses directed against peptides presented in MHC class II antigen presenting proteins. Generally, CD4+ T-cell responses are focused on only a few immunodominant regions of naturally processed antigens. We have found that immunodominant regions occur in the sequences flanking locally unstable segments of an antigen's three-dimensional structure, and we are now modifying CD4+ helper T-cell immune responses to recombinant antigens by engineering their processing and presentation.

Selected Publications:
Joseph A. Lasky, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Section of Pulmonary Diseases
Co-Director of Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic
TCC Program Member
jlasky@tulane.edu
(504) 988-2251, (504) 988-2144 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-9, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699
Homepage on the Pulmonary website:
http://www.som.tulane.edu/pulmdis/lasky.htm

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Lasky received his M.D. in 1985 from the University of Minnesota and completed his medical residency in 1988 at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester. He completed a fellowship in 1992 at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. The primary focus of Dr. Lasky's research is the pathobiology of pulmonary fibrosis. Presently he is evaluating the role of peptide growth factors (platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF)) in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. Current experiments involve the use of transgenic mice that overexpress PDGF and CTGF in a lung specific manner, and mice with inducible dominant-negative receptor mutants and inducible ribozymes. Dr. Lasky's laboratory also currently is conducting clinical studies of isocyanate and other workplace asthmas. The overall goal of the project is to collaborate with the NIOSH Division of Respiratory Disease Studies (RDS) in examining workers suspected of having occupational asthma induced by exposure to isocyanates. A major focus of the project will be the oriented strand wood board industry. The specific aims of the project are to confirm objectively the diagnosis of specific asthma induced by low molecular weight haptens, especially isocyanates, in workers through clinical challenge tests. Additionally, Dr. Lasky is researching the pathobiology of pulmonary hypertension as related to the inhibition of PDGF signal transduction. This proposal investigates the role of PDGF signal transduction in the pathogenesis of pulmonary vascular hypertension induced by hypobaric hypoxemia. The specific aim employs selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors and chimeric mice.

Selected Publications:

brlee Benjamin R. Lee, M.D.
Professor of Urology
TCC Contributing Member
brlee@tulane.edu
(504) 988-2750, (504) 988-5059 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-42, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Benjamin R. Lee is currently professor of urology at the Tulane University School of Medicine. After graduating magna cum laude from the College of Arts & Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Dr. Lee received his M.D. degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1994. He then continued in his surgical and urological training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital under Dr. Patrick Walsh and Dr. Alan Partin. In 2000, he joined the Albert Einstein School of Medicine at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center Department of Urology campus as director of laparoscopy. He was then promoted to associate professor in 2004. Dr. Lee's professional interests have focused on minimally invasive approaches to treat renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, transitional cell carcinoma, obstructive kidney disease, stricture disease and kidney stones. He is the author or co-author of more than 80 scientific manuscripts, 31 videos and 178 scientific abstracts. Dr. Lee's research has been recognized with awards from the American Urological Association, The Endourological Society and Urology Journal. He is currently section editor of the "Techniques in Endourology and Video CD-ROM" section of the Journal of Endourology and was elected to the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Lee is the course director of the American Urological Association course Ablative Oncology and has lectured extensively, both nationally and internationally, teaching other urologists the techniques of minimally invasive surgery and laparoscopy. His research centers on development of novel laparoscopic techniques to decrease the morbidity of resection of renal cell carcinoma, the physiology of laparoscopy, laparoscopic education, and robotics.

Selected Publications:

Cindy A. Leissinger, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Pathology
Section of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Director, Louisiana Comprehensive Hemophilia Center
Medical Director, The Louisiana Center for Bleeding & Clotting Disorder
Co-Director, Coagulation Laboratory
TCC Program Member
cleissi@tulane.edu
(504) 988-5482, (504) 988-1600 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-78, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699


Selected Publications:

Laura S. Levy, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
Associate Senior Vice-President for Research
Associate Director of the Tulane Cancer Center
TCC Program Member
llevy@tulane.edu
(504) 988-2083, (504) 988-5144 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-38, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699
Faculty listing on the Microbiology website:
http://www.som.tulane.edu/departments/microbiology/levy.htm

Biographical Narrative:
The primary theme of Dr. Levy's research is retroviral pathogenesis and the induction of malignancy. The early stages of human cancer are very difficult to study, generally because it is difficult or impossible to predict the onset of the malignant process, or to monitor the transformed cells. Viruses that induce tumors in animal model systems offer a unique opportunity to study early events in the malignant process, often because a specific type of tumor is reliably produced. For example, certain retroviruses induce malignant tumors of lymphoid origin in the natural host, and provide excellent models to study the cascade of events in the malignant process. Dr. Levy's lab has utilized retroviruses to study the molecular pathogenesis of malignant change in three animal model systems: (1) infection of the domestic cat, a naturally outbreeding population, with feline leukemia virus (FeLV), (2) infection of the laboratory inbred mouse with murine leukemia virus (MuLV), and (3) the induction of immunodeficiency disease in the rhesus macaque following infection with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). Their studies and others have shown that the retrovirally-mediated induction of lymphoid malignancy is a complex and multistep process involving prolonged interaction between the virus and the host. Their specific research objectives are to identify the cooperating events involved in the host-virus interaction, the mechanisms of their interaction, and their influence in the malignant process. A summary of their major findings and objectives follows: Selected Publications:
Alan T. Lewis, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Dermatology
Director of Mohs Micrographic Surgery
TCC Associate Member
alewis@tulane.edu
1430 Tulane Avenue, Box TB-36, New Orleans, LA 70112
(504) 988-7381, (504) 988-7382 fax
Chao-Jun Li, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry
TCC Contributing Member
cj.li@mcgill.ca
(504) 862-3574, (504) 865-5596 fax
Percival Stern Hall, Tulane Uptown Campus
6823 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70118
Homepage on the Chemistry website:
http://www.tulane.edu/~chemstry/Li.html

Curriculum Vitae (PDF document)

Selected Publications:
Marilyn M. Li, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Director of Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory and Molecular Diagnosis Laboratory
Hayward Genetics Center
TCC Associate Member
mli2@tulane.edu
(504) 988-5229, (504) 988-1763 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-43, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Li received her M.D. at Tongji Medical University in 1983. She completed her residency in pediatrics in 1987 at the Union Hospital of Tongji Medical University. She then joined the faculty of Union Hospital as a pediatric geneticist and hematologist. In 1989 she became a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Neoplastic Diseases at Hahnemann University and trained with Jorge J. Yunis, M.D. In 1993 Dr. Li entered the Genetics Fellowship Program at the University of Pennsylvania/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). At the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP she trained with Beverly Emanuel, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Kant, M.D. in clinical cytogenetics and clinical molecular genetics. After completing her fellowship, Dr. Li served as a director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory at the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia and then as director of Affiliated Genetics, Inc. in Utah and assistant director of DNA Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Utah. Dr. Li joined the Tulane faculty in 2000 as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Cytogenetics and Molecular Diagnostic Laboratories at Hayward Genetics Center. She is a fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics, the American Society of Human Genetics, the Southwest Oncology Group and the Children's Oncology Group. Dr. Li's primary research interest is in the field of chromosomal disorders, especially chromosome 22q11 deletion syndromes. Other ongoing research projects include DNA repeats, methylation & chromatin alteration in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy and cytogenetic and molecular changes in leukemia, lymphoma and solid tumor. She is an active member of the medical school and is involved in medical student, Ph.D. student, resident and fellow training.

Selected Publications:

min li Min Li, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor of Medicine, Section of Nephrology
TCC Contributing Member
minlee@tulane.edu
(504) 988-1361, (504) 988-1909 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-45, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699

 

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Li's long-term goal is to pursue a translational research program for the development of novel agents that improve the treatment of multiple myeloma and myeloma kidney. He started his research career with Ph.D. studies and postdoctoral training on peptide hormones at the molecular and immunological levels in Japan, 1990-1995. He has been conducting research on the role of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in neuroprotection, male fertilization and immune responsiveness at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans for the past twelve years.

The apparent pivotal role of cytokines in mediating myeloma cell proliferation, survival and migration to the bone marrow microenvironment prompted him to look into the potent immune modulatory effects of PACAP in multiple myeloma and myeloma kidney. Dr. Li's research has focused on the capacity of PACAP to block cytokine responses between myeloma cells and the bone marrow microenvironment and the resulting potent renoprotective effect in myeloma kidney. He found that PACAP could be a new antitumor agent that directly suppresses myeloma cell growth and indirectly affects tumor cell growth by modifying the bone marrow milieu of the multiple myeloma. His studies have also indicated that the tubular and interstitial injury of the myeloma kidney is induced by myeloma light chain-stimulated release of proinflammatory cytokines from the tubular epithelial cells. PACAP was found to potently suppress cytokine production from the renal proximal tubule cells both in vitro and in vivo.

The goal of his current research is to clarify the signal transduction pathways involved in the PACAP-induced suppression of cytokine production in human renal tubular cells and to develop appropriate methods of administration for novel agents to achieve effective prevention and treatment of progressive chronic kidney disease and acute renal failure in plasma cell dyscrasias. He plans to exploit new therapies that might enhance sensitivity or overcome resistance to novel chemotherapeutic agents or corticosteroid therapy. This is particularly important to our aging population, because the elderly are at increased risk of multiple myeloma and kidney injury progressing to end-stage disease. His research will address the pathologic significance, molecular mechanisms, and therapeutic intervention for kidney diseases in plasma cell dyscrasias-associated renal lesions.

Selected Publications:

Ming Li, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
TCC Contributing Member
mli@tulane.edu
(504) 988-8207
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-83, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699
Homepage on the Pharmacology website:
http://www.som.tulane.edu/departments/pharmacology/Faculty/li.html

Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Li received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1989 and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Washington from 1990 to 1993. The main interest of research in Dr. Ming's laboratory is to study the role of Ca2+ channels in the development of human diseases, especially in breast cancer. Ca2+ channels have long been known to be involved in the regulation of a variety of biological functions ranging from the control of cell excitability to the regulation of cell exocytosis and proliferation. We have reported the expression of T-type Ca2+ channels in breast cancer tumor cells and mitogenic cell lines. We have also found that the rate of proliferation of these cell lines could be reduced by our newly developed selective T-type Ca2+ channel antagonists. We are characterizing the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of these compounds as well as their anti-tumor effect in animal experiments. The goal of this project is to search for a new drug in the implement of the treatment of human breast cancer.

Selected Publications:

ytli Yu-Teh Li, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry
TCC Contributing Member
yli1@tulane.edu
(504) 988-2451, (504) 988-2739 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-43, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699


Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Li's research interests have been centered on glycobiology and glycopathology. Through the study of glycosidases and glycoconjugates, he has made several important contributions to the field of inborn lysosomal diseases. He has also studied glycosidases and glycoconjugates associated with neoplasia. His laboratory has been supported by the same R01 grant from the NIH for the past 36 years and has received two Merit Awards (Jarvitz Neuroscience Investigator Awards).

Selected Publications:

Maureen Lichtveld, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor and Chair
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
mlichtve@tulane.edu
(504) 988-7904, (504) 988-1726 fax
1440 Canal St., Ste. 2100, New Orleans, LA 70112

Arthur J. Lustig, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry
TCC Program Member
alustig@tulane.edu
(504) 988-3688, (504) 988-2739 fax
1430 Tulane Ave., Box SL-43, New Orleans, LA 70112-2699
Homepage on the Biochemistry website:
http://www.tulane.edu/~biochem/lustig_bio.html
Lab homepage: http://www.tulane.edu/~biochem/lustig_home.html
Curriculum Vitae
Biographical Narrative:
Dr. Lustig received a B. A. degree in Biology from The University of Chicago in 1975. He then carried out doctoral studies on yeast mitochondrial biogenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Murray Rabinowitz at The University of Chicago. He carried out his first postdoctoral studies with Dr. Thomas D. Petes at the same institution studying the structure and function of eukaryotic telomeres. Dr. Lustig subsequently conducted further postdoctoral studies with Dr. John Abelson at the California Institute of Technology, working on mRNA splicing in yeast. Dr. Lustig became Assistant Member at the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York in 1987. In 1996 Dr. Lustig joined the Department of Biochemistry faculty at the Tulane University Health Sciences Center and became an Associate Professor in 1998. Dr. Lustig has published over thirty articles in the area of yeast molecular genetics. He has also served on NIH, NSF, and ACS study sections and has been a reviewer for numerous journals. Dr. Lustig has continued to pursue his interests in telomere structure and function in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two areas are being explored. First, he is investigating the processes that help to regulate telomere elongation by telomerase. This interest arises from the linkage of telomere function with oncogenesis and aging in higher eukaryotes. Most recently, he has been investigating the mechanism of a novel recombinational mode of telomere size control discovered in his laboratory, termed telomeric rapid deletion. Telomeric rapid deletion also serves as a model system for the mechanisms that control recombination at the telomere. Second, Dr. Lustig is studying the nature of transcriptionally quiescent heterochromatic regions that form adjacent to telomeres. In particular, he is investigating both the interactions of factors that give rise to these telomere position effects and the processes that generate the heritability of transcriptionally repressed states, a central problem in development and differentiation. Dr. Lustig is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been named a regular member of the Nuclear Dynamics and Transport Study Section (NDT) of the National Institutes of Health.

Selected Publications:


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