Bill Willmore

Degrees:

B.Sc. (Honours With Distinction) University of Guelph 1992
Ph.D. Carleton University 1997
Post-doctoral Research Harvard Medical School 1997-2001

Research Interests:

1. Posttranslational modification of proteins under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.
2. Alteration of protein structure and function by hydroxylation.
3. Oxidative modification of proteins and protection from protein unfolding.
4. Novel antioxidants.

Methods:

Oxidative stress in cultured immortal and primary mammalian cells under altered oxygen regimes, enzymology (spectroscopy), antioxidant metabolites (glutathione, ascorbic acid, vitamin E), enzymology, protein (Western blot) and gene (real-time PCR) expression, molecular cloning, protein tagging and expression, immunoprecipitation, protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions, protein folding and ligand binding, proteomics, mass spectroscopy.

Keywords:

adaptation, stress, hypoxia, anoxia, ischemia, stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, protein post-translational modification, hydroxylation

Selected Publications:

Flueraru M, Chichirau A, Chepelev LL, Willmore WG, Durst T, Charron M, Barclay LRC and Wright JS. Cytotoxicity and cytoprotective activity in naphthalenediols depends on their tendency to form naphthoquinones. Free Radical Biology & Medicine. 2005

Willmore WG and Storey KB. Purification and characterization of glutathione S-transferase from the slider turtle Trachemys scripta elegans. FEBS Journal. 2005 272: 3602-3614.

Farha MA and Willmore WG. Post-translational modification and protein stabilization of erythroid-specific 5-aminolevulinate synthase under hypoxia. Biochemistry and Cell Biology. 2005 83:(in press).

Chichirau A, Flueraru M, Chepelev LL, Wright JS, Willmore WG, Durst T, Hussain HH and Charron M. Mechanism of cytotoxicity of catechols and a naphthalenediol in PC-12AC cells: the connection between extracellular autoxidation and molecular electronic structure. Free Radical Biology & Medicine. 2005 38: 344-355.

Farha MA and Willmore WG. Hypoxic stabilization and proteolytic degradation of erythroid-specific 5-aminolevulinate synthase. International Congress Series. 2004 1275: 71-78.