|
Brief Biography
Stephen L. Hajduk is Professor and Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia. Dr. Hajduk received his B.S. from the University of Georgia (1976) and his Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow, UK (1980). He was a NATO and EMBO visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam and a Rockefeller Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. He joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 1983 and was promoted to full-professor in 1991. He established the UAB Center for Community Outreach Development at UAB in 1998 and in 2003 moved to the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) as a Senior Scientist and founding Director of the Global Infectious Disease Program and Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Brown University. He moved his laboratory to the University of Georgia in 2006. He has served on Scientific Review Boards for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID), the National Research Council (NRC), the Wellcome Trust (UK) and the Burroughs Wellcome Advisory Board for Infectious Diseases. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Parasitology International, Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, PLoS Pathogens, and was editor for Experimental Parasitology. Hajduk is a Burroughs Wellcome Scholar in Molecular Parasitology and a Fogarty International Scholar. In addition, he has received the Hutner Prize from the Society of Protozoologist and the Odessa Woolfolk Award for community service from UAB. Research in the Hajduk lab is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Research Interests
The Hajduk laboratory is mainly interested in the molecular biology and biochemical of trypanosomes, the causative agent of an human African sleeping sickness. Our studies address several basic molecular processes in these important pathogens to gain a better insight into the basic biology of these organisms and to explore new approaches for intervention of disease.
RNA Editing. Many trypanosome mitochondrial mRNAs are “edited” by the insertion or deletion of uridines at specific sites to create open reading frames for essential mitochondrial proteins. We are investigating the mechanism of RNA editing and the assembly of proteins and RNAs required for editing. In addition, we are studying the function of proteins produced by alternative mRNA editing which generates extensive protein diversity in these organisms.
tRNA Trafficking. All trypanosome mitochondrial tRNAs are encoded by nuclear genes and to carry out mitochondrial protein synthesis at least 20 tRNAs are imported from the cytoplasm. We have developed in vitro and in vivo assays to study the biochemical requirements and the RNA sequences or structures required for RNA import into mitochondria. In addition, we have begun the purification and proteomic analysis of the mitochondrial tRNA translocon.
Innate Immunity to Trypanosomes. Innate immunity can play an important role in preventing or limiting the effects of a parasitic infection. We are particularly interested in the biochemical and molecular basis for the non-immune killing of African trypanosomes. Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of a bovine disease Nagana, and is killed by a toxic subspecies of human serum high-density lipoproteins (HDL) while the human sleeping sickness parasites, T. gambiense and T . rhodesiense are not.
Selected Recent Publications
- Widener, J., Nielsen, M., Shiflett, A. Moestrup, S. and Hajduk S. (2007) Hemoglobin is a co-factor for trypanosome lytic factor. PLoS Pathogens (in press)
- Ochsenreiter, T. Cipriano, M. and Hajduk, S.L. (2007) KISS: The Kinetoplastid Editing Sequence Search Tool. RNA 13, 1-4.
- Hans, J., Marchewka, M., Hajduk, S.L. and S. Madison-Antenucci (2007) Role of RNA-Editing Associate Protein-1: Null mutants reveal link to mitochondrial RNA stability. RNA 13, 881-889.
- Ochsenreiter, T. and Hajduk, S.L. (2006) Alternative editing of mRNA generates protein diversity. EMBO Reports 7, 1128-1133.
- Oli MW, Cotlin LF, Shiflett AM, Hajduk, SL. (2006) Serum resistance-associated protein blocks lysosomal targeting of trypanosome lytic factor in Trypanosoma brucei. Eukaryot Cell. 5,132-9.
- Golden D.E. and Hajduk, S.L. (2006) The importance of RNA structure in RNA editing and a potential proofreading mechanism for correct guide RNA:pre-mRNA binary complex formation. J. Molec. Biol. 359, 585-596.
- Faulkner, S.D., Oli, M.W., Kieft, R., Cotlin, L., Widener, J., Shiflett, A., Cipriano, M.J., Pacocha, S.E., Birkeland, S.R., Hajduk, S.L., and McArthur, A.G. (2006) In vitro generation of human HDL resistant Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Eukaryot. Cell 5, 1276-1286.
- Golden, D.E. and Hajduk, S.L. (2005) The 3¢ untranslated region of cytochrome oxidase II mRNA functions in RNA editing of African trypanosomes exclusively as a cis guide RNA. RNA 11, 29-37.
- Shiflett, A.M., Bishop, J.R., Pahwa, A. and Hajduk, S.L. (2005) Human HDLs are multi-component innate immune complexes. J Biol Chem. 280, 32578-85.
|
