Adulterants Used to Circumvent Routine Urine Drug Testing This ongoing project aims to test the validity of claims that certain oral supplements or urine adulterants can be used to circumvent the detection of drugs in urine samples. By methodical testing, we have refuted the effectiveness of several common claims of "how to beat a drug test." However, we have also confirmed that Zinc, either added to urine directly or taken as a dietary supplement, effectively interferes with the detection of drugs in routine urine drug testing. We have recently published the original discovery of this phenomenon and we are now pursuing the mechanism, as well as continuing our screening for other such adulterants. Lab members involved: Abhishek Venkatratnam (grad student) Role of extracellular matrix proteins in cellular signaling and cell proliferation control In this project, we have discovered that when cells become deficient in their ability to synthesize a certain extracellular matrix protein, they stop proliferating (multiplying) and exit the cell cycle (but they do not die). There are many reasons why that may be, and infinite possible mechanisms of this "cell cycle arrest." We are characterizing this phenomenon and attempting to understand this newly discovered aspect of the relationship between the extracellular matrix and cell division.  Lab members involved: Anthony Ho, Jung Cho, Richard Piczatowski, Michael Lugo (all undergrad) Collaborators: Joseph Baldassare (S.L.U. Medical Center), Gary Fisher (U. of Michigan Medical Center) This project is a rigorous validation of a newly developed automated DNA purification technology called the "iPrep DNA Purification Instrument." This validation will simulate a wide range of forensic scenarios in which DNA evidence is typically taken. We will compare both the quantity and the quality of the DNA extracted by this method, compared to currently standard manual methods, and report on the effectiveness, reliability, and reproducibility, of the iPrep instrument in preparing DNA samples for forensic analysis. This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Invitrogen Corporation.  Lab members involved: Kate Grimley (grad student), Zuleyma Peralta (undergrad) Collaborators: Declan Donovan (Invitrogen) Role of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genetic differences in serotonin signaling among the human population Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most discreet genetic difference among individuals - a single base pair difference between two people's DNA. However, these SNPs can have a profound impact on the function of the gene in which they are found. Examples of single DNA base pair changes that have large effects are the point mutations that cause Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle-cell Anemia, certain forms of Hemophilia, to name a few. Other SNPs are more subtle or are even without a effect (silent). In this project, we have used bioinformatic approaches to identify several SNPs in genes involved in serotonin signaling, that by virtue of their position, could lead to altered gene function. It is our hypothesis that these SNPs, alone or in combinations, could contribute to the genetic predisposition to certain mental illnesses, including major depressive disorder, suicide, schizophrenia, and other mood disorders.  (a human neuron growing in vitro) Lab members involved: Abhishek Venkatratnam (grad), Zuleyma Peralta (undergrad) Collaborators: Richard Rosenthal (Chair, Dept. of Psychiatry, Roosevelt Hospital) |
Current Research Projects |