- Medical/Professional School:
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill
- Residency:
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, Pediatrics
- Fellowship:
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National Institute of Health, Rockville
- Clinical Interests:
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Primary / intestinal immune deficiencies
- Description of Research:
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Approximately half of the Scharenberg lab works on directed evolution of homing endonuclease proteins, and our application to gene repair as part of the Northwest Genome Engineering Consortium (NGEC). The other half works on the role of ion channels and 2nd messengers in immune cell biology, focusing on the channel/enzyme fusion proteins TRPM2 and TRPM7. Work in the latter area is spearheaded by Jaya Sahni on TRPM7, and Yumei Song and Ben Buelow on TRPM2 and ADP-ribose, respectively.
The Scharenberg lab developed homing endonuclease surface display technology in collaboration with the Stoddard and Monnat laboratories. Our lab uses surface display of homing endonucleases combined with both MACS and FACS for its work on the analysis and directed evolution of homing endonucleases.
The Scharenberg lab uses a wide variety of molecular and cellular biology methods, fluorescence imaging, flow cytometry, patch clamp, and mass spectrometry for its work on Mg2+ homeostasis and ADP-ribose 2nd messenger signaling functions.
Areas of expertise:
- Mg2+ homeostasis and role of Mg2+in biosynthetic metabolism
- 2nd messenger signaling functions of ADP-ribose
- Surface display and directed evolution of homing endonucleases
Current research interests:
- Role of Mg2+in the regulation of lymphocyte biosynthetic metabolism
- Role of ADP-ribose as an oxidative stress 2nd messenger
- Directed evolution of homing endonucleases
- Key Publications:
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Scharenberg AM, Humphries LA, Rawlings DJ. Calcium signalling and cell-fate choice in B cells. Nat Rev Immunol. 2007 Oct;7(10):778-89
Sahni J, Nelson B, Scharenberg AM. SLC41A2 encodes a plasma-membrane Mg2+ transporter. Biochem J. 2007 Jan 15;401(2):505-13.
Perraud AL, Takanishi CL, Shen B, Kang S, Smith MK, Schmitz C, Knowles HM, Ferraris D, Li W, Zhang J, Stoddard BL, Scharenberg AM. Accumulation of free ADP-ribose from mitochondria mediates oxidative stress-induced gating of TRPM2 cation channels. J Biol Chem. 2005 Feb 18;280(7):6138-48. Epub 2004 Nov 23.
Schmitz C, Perraud AL, Johnson CO, Inabe K, Smith MK, Penner R, Kurosaki T, Fleig A, Scharenberg AM. Regulation of vertebrate cellular Mg2+ homeostasis by TRPM7. Cell. 2003 Jul 25;114(2):191-200.
Volna P, Jarjour J, Baxter S, Roffler SR, Monnat RJ Jr, Stoddard BL, Scharenberg AM. Flow cytometric analysis of DNA binding and cleavage by cell surface-displayed homing endonucleases. Nucleic Acids Res. 2007;35(8):2748-58. Epub 2007 Apr 10.
- Honors & Awards:
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2002: Society for Pediatric Research National Young Investigator Award
2000: Hershey Prostate Cancer Award
1999: Fireman Fund Research Fellowship Award
1996-1999: AAAAI Extramural Research Investigator award
Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI)