Amy Hicks

First Year Student, 2007-2008

Email address: ahicks@wfubmc.edu

Education:

BS (Biochemistry), 2005, University of Maine

BS (Molecular and Cellular Biology), 2005, University of Maine

Advisor: Currently in First Rotation with Michael Seeds, PhD

Current Research:

Pulmonary surfactant decreases surface tension in lungs reducing the forces required for breathing.  Previous research examining bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) during inflammatory lung injury in diseases such as asthma or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) suggests secretory phospholipase A₂ can hydrolyze surfactant phospholipids, thus altering surfactant composition and contributing to surfactant dysfunction.  Variations in the induction and regulation of sPLA₂ genes may, therefore, impact surfactant function during lung injury. Our current hypothesis is that inflammatory mediators such as LPS and TNF-α stimulate sPLA₂ expression in the lungs of patients with ARDS.  The goal of this project is to identify differences in translational and transcriptional expression of different sPLA₂ genes during lung injury.  Of the 9 functional human sPLA₂ genes, the focus is on group 2A sPLA₂ as the only sPLA₂ protein to be identified in BAL samples from ARDS pateints to date. Our experiments are done using an alveolar macrophage cell model, THP1, stimulated with LPS, to measure the differences in transcriptional and translational expression of group 2A sPLA₂.  LPS would be present in bacterial infections which are found in approximately 25% of ARDS patients.  Delineating the regulation of sPLA₂ mediated surfactant injury in ARDS would increase our understanding of disease mechanisms and may provide therapeutic strategies for treating lung injury.   

Honors/Awards:

Publications:

Gallagher CJ, Muscat JE, Hicks AN, Zheng Y, Dyer A, Chase GA, Richie JP Jr., Lazarus P.  Sex-specific association of the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B17 gene deletion with decreased glucuronidation of NNAL and increased risk for lung cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 April;16(4):823-8.

Conference Abstracts:

Gang Chen, Ryan Dellinger, Carla Gallagher, Dongxiao Sun, Gary Chase, Thomas Spratt, Joshua Muscat, John Richie, Amy Hicks, Philip Lazarus.  UGT2B10 is a major glucuronidator of tobacco-specific nitrosamines; association of UGT2B10 haplotypes with glucuronidation phenotypes in humans. The American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, April 2007.

Gallagher CJ, Muscat JE, Hicks AN, Dyer A, Chase GA, Richie JP Jr., Lazarus P.  Gender-specific association of the UGT2B17 gene deletion with decreased glucuronidation of NNAL and increased risk for lung cancer.  American Association for Cancer Research: Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Meeting, Boston, MA, November 2006. 

Amy N. Hicks, Carla J. Gallagher, Joshua E. Muscat, Jong-in Hahm, Philip Lazarus.  Haplotyping the UGT 1A Locus using Single-walled Carbon Nanotube Scanning Probes. The Penn State University Genetics Symposium, State College, PA, April 2006.

Gallagher CJ, Hicks AN, Zheng Y, Dyer A, Chase GA, Muscat JE, Lazarus P.  UGT2B17 gene deletion and lung cancer risk.  The American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, April 2006.

Grant Support: