Roy R. Hantgan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biochemistry          

Email: rhantgan@wfubmc.edu

Education:

Juniata College, BS, 1968

Cornell University, PhD (Physical Chemistry), 1974

Research Interests:
My research focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular interactions that stabilize an occlusive thrombus and devising biochemical interventions that can restore normal blood flow.

Current Research: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in our society, and the major culprit is a blood clot formed by the unwarranted activation of the clotting cascade. While cardiologists can often restore normal blood flow through by widening the blocked artery and inserting a stent to keep it open, this approach require powerful anti-platelet drugs that can themselves cause hemorrhagic or thrombotic problems.

Research in my laboratory focuses on understanding, at the molecular level, how a class of these drugs --- integrin antagonists --- recognize their target receptor and how that interaction actually alters its structure and function. Our biophysical approach to translational research is designed to hasten the development of safer and more effective integrin-targeted therapies.

As Director of the Macromolecular Interactions Core Laboratory, I also strive to make an array of biotechnologies “user-friendly” to my colleagues here at the medical school, at Wake Forest University, and to the wider national and international research community.

Recent Publications:

Hantgan, R.R., Stahle, M.C., Horita, D.A.: Entropy Drives Integrin IIb3:Echistatin Binding-Evidence from Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy. Biochemistry, 47(9):2884-92 (2008).

Rocco, M., Rosano, C., Weisel, J.W., Horita, D.A., Hantgan, R.R. Integrin conformational regulation: uncoupling extension/tail separation from changes in the head region by a multi-resolution approach. Structure, 16:954-64 (2008).

Azarov, A., Xiaojun, H., Jeffers A., Basu, S., Ucer, B., Hantgan, R.R., Levy, A., Kim-Shapiro, D. B. Rate of Nitric Oxide Scavenging by hemoglobin bound to haptoglobin. Nitric Oxide, 18:296-302 (2008).

Shen, K., Sergeant, S. Hantgan, R.R., McPhail, L.C.,Horita, D.A.  Mutations in the PX-SH3_A linker of p47^phox decouple PI(3,4)P₂ binding from NADPH oxidase activation. Biochemistry, 47:8855-65 (2008)

Hantgan, R. R., Stahle, M. C., Connor, J. H., Connor, R. F., Mousa, S. A.:  αIIbβ3 priming and clustering by orally active and intravenous integrin antagonists.  J. Thromb. Haemost., 5:542-50 (2007).

Publications:

For a listing of additional publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine