Ibrahim Z. Ades

Affiliate Associate Professor

Ph.D. - University of California, Los Angeles, 1976.
Telephone: (301) 405-5435
FAX: (301) 314-9489
E-mail: izades@umd.edu
Research: Cell Biology and Biochemistry

My current interests are in the biochemical mechanisms that regulate angiogenesis, the growth of blood vessels under the influence of regulatory signals. This is a new venture for my laboratory. We started working on that area quite recently, but it has become the primary focus of our studies.

I was trained as a cell biologist. Most of my work in the past twenty five years dealt with the regulation of production of mitochondrial components. Starting in the "ancient times" with studies on liver cytochrome oxidase, I moved onto the mechanisms of protein transport into mitochondria. Up until relatively recently, studies by our group focused on two areas. We were particularly interested in post-transcriptional processes that modulated the products of several genes coding for enzymes involved in porphyrin synthesis and utilization. We have been interested also in signaling cascades triggered in lymphocytes stimulated to proliferate by growth factors; our focus in those studies was on Interleukin 6.

We are investigating now the mechanisms of action of VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor, and especially how it causes endothelial cells (cells that line blood vessels) to proliferate and become fenestrated. This major shift in my research direction may appear odd. It came about because several years ago I decided to put together a course on the Biology of Cancer to force myself to examine that literature systematically. As a result, I have become quite intrigued by how tumors induce angiogenesis. Surprisingly, relatively little is known in general about the molecular signals that induce blood vessels to proliferate. The questions involved are basic and very broad, and the potential pharmacological applications of work in that area appear immense. At this stage, we are identifying immediate-early genes whose expressions are modulated in the endothelium upon exposure to VEGF. We are also interested in the biochemical processes responsible for triggering rapidly a set of morphological changes in endothelial cells upon exposure to VEGF.

Representative Publications:

Ades, I. Z. and Butow, R. A.: The transport of proteins into yeast mitochondria: kinetics and pools. J. Biol. Chem. 255: 9925-9935 (1980).

Ades, I. Z. and Harpe, K. G.: Biogenesis of mitochondrial proteins: identification of the mature and precursor forms of the subunit of delta-aminolevulinate synthase from embryonic chick liver. J. Biol. Chem. 256: 9329-9333 (1981).

Ades, I. Z., Stevens, T. M. and Drew, P. D.: Biogenesis of embryonic chick liver delta-aminolevulinate synthase: Regulation of the level of mRNA by hemin. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 253: 297-304 (1987).

Drew, P. D. and Ades, I. Z.: Regulation of production of -aminolevulinate synthase in tissues of chicken embryos: Effects of porphyrogenic agents and of -aminolevulinic acid. Biochem. J. 262: 815-821 (1989).

Ades, I. Z.: Heme production in animal tissues: The regulation of biogenesis of delta-aminolevulinate synthase. Intl. J. Biochem. 22: 565-578 (1990).

Drew, P. D. and Ades, I. Z.: Regulation of the stability of chicken embryo liver -aminolevulinate synthase mRNA by hemin. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 162: 102-107 (1989).

McKinney, C. E. and Ades, I. Z.: Production of -minolevulinic acid: Characterization of murine liver 4,5-dioxovaleric acid:L-alanine aminotransferase. Intl. J. Biochem. 23: 803-810 (1991).

Brown, R.T., Ades, I.Z., and Nordan, R.P.: An acute phase response factor/NF-kappaB site downstream of the junB gene that mediates responsiveness to Interleukin-6 in a murine plasmacytoma. J. Biol. Chem. 270: 31129-31135 (1995).

Current students and coworkers: