Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, Aikaterini - University of Maryland-Baltimore - Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

个人简介

I received my Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX in the Department of Cell Biology. After graduating from Baylor, I joined the laboratory of Dr. E.J. Benz, Jr., in the Division of Hematology, at Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine in 1998, to study protein 4.1R, a peripheral membrane protein that was originally discovered in red blood cells, in skeletal muscle. In 2001, I moved to the laboratory of Dr. R.J. Bloch, in the Department of Physiology, at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, as an Academic Fellow, to study a small form of ankyrin 1 (small ankyrin 1) and its ligands in skeletal muscle. In 2002, I was promoted to Research Associate, and in July of 2003 to Assistant Professor. My research has been funded by grants from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the National Institutes of Health.

研究领域

My research focuses on the role of cytoskeletal proteins in muscle organization. The identification and functional characterization of molecules that form the non-contractile cytoskeleton, which in turn "build" the contractile apparatus of striated muscle, is crucial for understanding how myofibers develop, generate and transmit force, and maintain their structural integrity during contraction and relaxation. Moreover, elucidation of the fundamental biology and pathophysiology of muscle cytoskeleton will give a better insight on the etiologies that underlie severe muscular dystrophies and cardiac disorders. This will ultimately facilitate the development of innovative therapeutic strategies.

近期论文

查看导师新发文章（温馨提示：请注意重名现象，建议点开原文通过作者单位确认）

Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A, Huang, S.-C., and Benz, E.J., Jr., "A non-erythroid isoform of protein 4.1R interacts with components of the contractile apparatus in skeletal myofibers", Mol. Biol. Cell 11, 3805-3817, 2000. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Frye, C., Benz, E.J. Jr., and Hung, S.-C. "The Prototypical 4.1R-10 kDa Domain and the 4.1G-10 kDa Paralog Mediate Fodrin/Actin Complex Formation", J. Biol. Chem. 276, 20679-20687, 2001. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., and Bloch, R.J., "The Hydrophilic Domain of Small Ankyrin 1 Interacts with the Two NH2-terminal Immunoglobulin Domains of Titin", J. Biol. Chem. 278, 3985-3991, 2003. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Jones, E., van Rossum, D., and Bloch, R.J., "Obscurin is a Ligand for Small Ankyrin 1 in Skeletal Muscle" Mol. Biol. Cell 14, 1138-1148, 2003. Borisov, A.B., Raeker, M.O., Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Yang, K., Kurnit D.M., Bloch, R.J., and Russel, M.W., "Rapid Response of Cardiac Obscurin Gene Cluster to Aortic Stenosis: Differential Expression of Obscurin and Obscurin-MLCK and Involvement in Hypertrophic Growth", Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 310, 910-918, 2003. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Catino, D.H., Strong, J.C., Randall, W.R. and Bloch, R.J., "Obscurin regulates the organization of myosin into A-bands", Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol., 287, C209-C217, 2004. Borisov, A.B, Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Bloch, R.J., Westfall, M.V. and Russell, M.W., "Dynamics of obscurin localization during differentiation and remodeling of cardiac myocytes: Obscurin as an integrator of myofibrillar structure", J. Histochem. Cytochem. 52 (9), 1117-1127, 2004. Sanoudou, D., Vafiadaki, E., Arvanitis, D., Kranias, E.G. and Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., "Array Lessons from the Heart: Focus on the Genome and Transcriptome of Cardiomyopathies", Physiol. Genomics, 21, 131-143, 2005. Borisov, A.B., Sutter, S.B., Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Bloch, R.J., Westfall, M. V. and Russell, M.W., "Essential role of obscurin in cardiac myofibrillogenesis and hypertrophic response: evidence from small interfering RNA-mediated gene silencing"; Histochem. Cell Biol., 1-12, 2005. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Catino, D.H., Strong, J.C., and Bloch, R.J. "De Novo Myofibrillogenesis in C2C12 Cells: Evidence for the Independent Assembly of M-lines and Z-disks" Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol., 290, 626-637, 2006. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A. and Bloch, R.J., "Obscurin: a multitasking muscle giant", J. Muscle Res. Cell Motility, 26, 419-426, 2006. Raeker, M., Su, F., Sutter, S., Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Borisov, A.B., Lyons, S.E., Russell, M.W., "Obscurin Is Required For the Lateral Alignment of Striated Myofibrils In Zebrafish", Dev. Dynamics, 235, 2018-2029, 2006. Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Catino, D.H., Strong, J.C., Sutter, S., Borisov, A.B., Pumplin, D.W., Russell, M.W., and Bloch, R.J. "Obscurin Modulates the Assembly and Organization of both the Myofibril and the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum" FASEB J., 20, 2102-2111, 2006. Vafiadaki, E., Sanoudou, D., Arvanitis, D., Catino, D.H., Kranias, E.G., and Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., "Phospholamban interacts with HAX-1, a mitochondrial protein with anti-apoptotic function". J. Mol. Biol., 367, 65-79, 2007. Bowman, A.L., Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A, Hirsch, H., Geisler, S., Gonzalez-Serratos, H., Russell, M.W. and Bloch, R.J., "Different obscurin isoforms localize to distinct sites at sarcomeres". FEBS Letters, 581, 1549-54, 2007. Arvanitis, D.A., Vafiadaki, E., Mitton, B.A., Gregory, K.N., Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Sanoudou, D., and Kranias E.G., "Histidine-rich calcium binding protein is a novel binding partner of SERCA2a in the heart". Am. J. Physiol.-Cell Physiol. 293(3):H1581-9, 2007. Borzok, M.A., Catino, D.H., Nicholson, J., Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., and Bloch, R.J., "Mapping the Binding Site on Small Ankyrin 1 for Obscurin", J. Biol. Chem. 282(44), 32384-96, 2007.