SPEAKERS
- Luis A. Nunes Amaral, PhD
- Keith Baggerly, PhD
- Jeremy M. Berg, PhD
- Andrew Bersten, MD
- Trinad Chakraborty, PhD
- Augustine Choi, MD
- John Cidlowski, PhD
- Bruce Freeman, PhD
- Mark T. Gladwin, MD
- Brahm Goldstein, MD
- David S. Goldstein, MD, PhD
- Ramona Hicks, PhD
- Marti Jett, PhD
- Teri Manolio, MD, PhD
- John Marshall, MD
- Christian Meisel, MD
- Sidney M. Morris, PhD
- Avery Nathens, MD, PhD, MPH
- Carol E. Nicholson, MD
- Frank R Sharp, MD
- Alan R. Shuldiner, MD
- Robert Vandre, COL
- Richard M. Weinshilboum, MD
|
Sidney M. Morris, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Speaker Topic
The Arginases: Toll Keepers at Critical Crossroads in Metabolism
|
|
|
Dr. Morris graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1968 and received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Physiological Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin from 1975-1978. From 1978-1982 Dr. Morris served as a Research Associate at the University of Wisconsin and Case Western Reserve University. He then became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, where he subsequently became an Associate Professor (1989-1999) and Professor (1999-present).
Dr. Morris has received numerous honors and fellowships over the course of his career. From 1968-1974 he was a USPHS Predoctoral Fellow and from 1975-1978 he was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. He was a Basil O’Connor Research Grant Awardee of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation (1984-1987) and an Invited Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (1997).
Dr. Morris’ primary research interest is the roles and regulation of arginine metabolism in health and disease, and he is regarded as one of the world’s experts in this area. He has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles as well as many book chapters, reviews, symposium proceedings, and abstracts in his area of interest.
Currently, Dr. Morris and his colleagues are interested in elucidating the mechanisms underlying transcriptional and metabolic responses to inflammation and infection. In particular, they are studying the roles and regulation of the arginases, which are increasingly recognized as important players in a diverse range of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes. These processes include asthma, sickle cell disease, penile erection, host responses to infection by a variety of pathogens, regulation of cell proliferation, neurodegenerative disease, regeneration of nerve cells, and T-cell dysfunction. Dr. Morris is presently involved in numerous projects to investigate the impact of arginase expression on synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), polyamines, and proline, as well as to analyze the DNA elements and transcription factors involved in regulation of arginase gene expression in response to cytokines, bacterial endotoxin, and other agents. |
|
|
|
