Elimelda Ongeri
North Carolina A & T State University, NC·Biochemistry
When tissues are injured, enzymes that cut other proteins can either help repair the damage or make it worse. Meprins are one family of these protein-cutting enzymes, called metalloproteases because they need a metal ion to work.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Medicine & Clinical Research
Physiology
- Topics
meprin
metalloproteases
tissue injury
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Determine how single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the meprin beta gene change the enzyme's interactions with its substrates and with sheddases, the enzymes that release it from cells.
- Determine how meprin cutting of substrates such as inflammatory signals, cell-junction proteins and structural proteins changes signaling during hypoxia, inflammation and turnover of the tissue's structural scaffold, using molecular biology, proteomics and meprin knockout mice.
- Evaluate meprins and their cleavage products as biomarkers for diagnostic tools to detect diabetic kidney injury and Alzheimer's disease early.
More about the research
They are linked to inflammation and scarring diseases. These include kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lung fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Meprins are most abundant in the kidney and small intestine. They are also found in immune cells, skin, blood vessel lining and cancer cells. This research asks how meprins drive tissue injury and whether they could serve as early warning signs of disease.
Why it matters
Meprins are implicated in chronic kidney injury caused by diabetes and in Alzheimer's disease. Knowing how meprin gene variants and meprin activity drive tissue damage could point to new treatment targets. Meprins and the protein fragments they produce could become biomarkers for diagnostic tests that catch diabetic kidney injury or Alzheimer's disease early. This would support more personalized care for patients with genetic risk.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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Tricia King
Emory University, GA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Identify the strongest predictors of cognitive impairment in pediatric, adolescent and young adult medulloblastoma survivors by testing environmental resources, clinical factors and genetic variants separately at cancer centers in Georgia, Alabama and Ohio.
Sergey Krupenko
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Biochemistry
Characterize the catalytic activity and stability of ALDH1L1 enzyme variants encoded by common human haplotypes, testing whether protein-altering SNPs impair conversion of 10-formyl-THF to THF.
The school
North Carolina A & T State University: 5 labs on PI Pages, $82M a year on research, 72 research doctorates a year.
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