| Dr. David Allen is an assistant professor
in the Department of Integrative Physiology. He received both
his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Kinesiology and
his doctorate in Physiological Science from the University
of California, Los Angeles. Prior to starting his current
faculty position in Integrative Physiology he did postdoctoral
research in the Department of Human Genetics at the University
of Michigan Medical School and in the Department of Molecular,
Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado,
Boulder.
Dr. Allen’s research focuses primarily on the molecular
biology and genetics of skeletal muscle gene expression. In
particular, his lab uses cell culture, plasmid DNA injection,
and transgenic animals to elucidate the cis- and trans-regulatory
elements responsible for the expression of genes such as myosin
heavy chain, myostatin, insulin-like growth factor, matrix
metalloproteinase-9, and the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine
receptor. The study of these genes is organized into four
main projects in Dr. Allen’s lab: (1) understanding
the signaling pathways that confer fiber-specific and exercise-sensitive
gene expression on different myosin heavy chain isoforms;
(2) identifying the role of transcriptional regulation of
the anti-growth factor myostatin and the autocrine growth
factor IGF-I in muscle hypertrophy and atrophy; (3) elucidating
the role of matrix metalloproteinases, and polymorphisms in
these genes, in exercise-induced muscle damage and repair
in both mice and humans; (4) understanding the contribution
of genetics to individual differences in susceptibility to
nicotine addiction by identifying functional polymorphisms
in candidate neural genes.
Selected Publications:
Allen DL Sartorius CA, Sycuro LK, Leinwand LA. Different
pathways regulate expression of the skeletal myosin heavy
chain genes. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 276: 43524-43533,
2001.
Allen DL, Leinwand LA. Intracellular calcium and myosin isoform
transitions. Calcineurin and CaM kinase pathways regulate
preferential activation of the IIa myosin heavy chain promoter.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 277: 45323-45330, 2002.
Allen DL, Teitelbaum D, Kurachi K. Growth factor stimulation
of matrix metalloproteinase expression and myoblast migration
and invasion in vitro. American Journal of Physiology 284:
C805-C815, 2003.
McCall GE, Allen DL, Haddad F, Baldwin KM. Transcriptional
regulation of IGF-I expression in skeletal muscle. American
Journal of Physiology 285: C831-839, 2003.
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