Wayne Carter
University of Nottingham, United States
Biography
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<strong>Biography:</strong></p>
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Wayne Carter research & development career has been concerned with understanding cellular signaling and the protein changes and modifications that can trigger pathology, and how therapeutics can limit disease progression. Many extracellular signals bind to specific trans-membranous receptors to initiate a cellular signaling pathway. Signal transduction invariably requires protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) to propagate intracellular signaling events. Additionally, PTMs arise from extracellular xenobiotic agents that cross cell membranes. An example is environmental pesticides that can adduct cellular proteins including a number of specific neuronal targets. Other toxic agents such as alcohol trigger protein PTMs and damage to tissues and cellular proteins.<br />
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By utilizing proteomic strategies she characterised the cellular damage that arises from these agents, and their specific cellular and nuclear (epigenetic) protein targets. One such protein target is protein isoaspartyl methyltransferase (PIMT), an enzyme that normally repairs age-related protein damage, and whose activity is impaired by alcohol consumption.<br />
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<strong>Research Interest(s):</strong> Current laboratory studies include an examination of the targets and consequences of environmental pesticide exposures; hepato- and neuro-pathology of alcohol abuse; and studies of the protein PTMs and protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.</p>