Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Washington, K-165 HSB Box 357710, 1959 Pacific Street NE Seattle, WA 98195-7710 Phone: 206-543-0756 Fax: 206-543-3169 Email: moralejo@uw.edu

Dr. Moralejo received his D.V.M. from the University of La Plata (Argentina). He joined the faculty in the Departments of Anatomy and Laboratory Animals Science. He completed a Ph.D. and post-doctoral research training from the University of Tokushima (Japan). He joined the R.H.W. Laboratory at the University of Washington in October of 2000 for his second post-doctoral training. Dr. Moralejo joined the faculty in Comparative Medicine in 2004.

Current Research Interests

Diabetes and obesity are interacting complex diseases, where the genetic and environmental factors control the development. We are using different strain of congenic rats to elucidate the molecular mechanism of diabetes, obesity and diabesity.

Representative publications
*equally contributed

Moralejo, D. H., S. Wei, K. Wei, S. Weksler-Zangen, G. Koike, H. Jacob, T. Hirashima, K. Kawano, K. Sugiura, Y. Sasaki, T. Ogino, T. Yamada and K. Matsumoto. "Identification of quantitative trait loci for non-insulin-dependent Diabetes mellitus that interact with body weight in the Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty rat". Proceeding of the Association of American Physicians Vol. 110, Num. 6, 545-558, 1998.

Moralejo, D. H., S. Wei, K. Wei, T. Yamada, and K. Matsumoto. " X-Linked locus is responsible for Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus in the OLETF Rat". Journal of Veterinary Medical Science Vol. 60, Num. 3, 373-375, 1998.

Moralejo, D. H., T. Ogino, M. Zhu, K. Toide, S. Wei, K. Wei, T. Yamada, A. Mizuno, K. Matsumoto, and K. Shima. " Identification of a quantitative trait locus influencing plasma insulin levels after 70% pancreatectomy using the OLETF rat". Journal of Veterinary Medical Science Vol. 60, Num. 10, 1157-1160, 1998.

Moralejo, D. H.*, T. Ogino*, M. Zhu, K. Toide, S. Wei, K. Wei, T. Yamada, A. Mizuno, K. Shima, and K. Matsumoto. " A major quantitative trait locus co-localizing with cholecystokinin type A receptor gene influences poor pancreatic proliferation in a spontaneously diabetogenic rat". Mammalian Genome Vol. 9, Num. 10, 794-798, 1998.

Wei, S., K. Wei, D. H. Moralejo, T. Ogino, G. Koike, H. Jacob, K, Sigiura, Y. Sasaki, T. Yamada, and K. Matsumoto. "Mapping and characterization of quantitative trait loci for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with an improved genetic map in the Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty rat". Mammalian Genome Vol. 10, Num. 3, 249-258, 1999.

Ogino, T., S. Wei, K. Wei, D. H. Moralejo, H. Kose, A. Mizuno, K. Shima, T. Yamada, and K. Matsumoto. "Genetic evidence for obesity loci involved in the regulation of the body fat distribution in obese type II diabetes rat, OLETF". Genomics 70, 19 - 25, 2000.

Hiroyuki Kose*, Daniel H. Moralejo*, Tomoe Ogino, Akira Mizuno, Takahisa Yamada and Kozo Matsumoto. “Examination of OLETF-derived non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus QTL by construction of a series of congenic rats”. Mammalian Genome Vol. 13, Num. 10, 558-562, 2002.

MacMurray AJ*, Moralejo DH*, Kwitek AE, Rutledge EA, Van Yserloo B, Gohlke P, Speros SJ, Snyder B, Schaefer J, Bieg S, Jiang J, Ettinger RA, Fuller J, Daniels TL, Pettersson A, Orlebeke K, Birren B, Jacob HJ, Lander ES, Lernmark A. “Lymphopenia in the BB Rat Model of Type 1 Diabetes is Due to a Mutation in a Novel Immune-Associated Nucleotide (Ian)-Related Gene”. Genome Res. Jul; 12(7):1029-39, 2002.

Daniel H. Moralejo, H. A. Park, S. Speros, A. J. MacMurray, A. E. Kwitek , H. J. Jacob, E.S. Lander, and A. Lernmark “Genetic Dissection of Lymphopenia from Autoimmunity by Introgression of Mutated Ian5 Gene onto F344 Rat” Journal of Autoimmunity Vol. 21 (4), 315-324, 2003.

Mieczyslaw Michalkiewicz, Teresa Michalkiewicz, Ruth A. Ettinger, Elizabeth A. Rutledge, Jessica M.Fuller, Daniel H. Moralejo, Brian VanYserloo, Armand J. MacMurray, Anne E. Kwitek, Howard J. Jacob, Eric S. Lander, and Åke Lernmark. “Transgenic rescue demonstrates involvement of the Ian5 gene in T-cell development in the rat.” Physiol Genomics 19: 228-232, 2004