Education and Training:

A.B., cum laude, Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (1976)

M.D., Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY; Ph.D. in Anatomy and Structural Biology (1985)

Intern and Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, The North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC (1985-89)

Postdoctoral Fellow, Lineberger Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (1987-89)

Postdoctoral Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (1990-93)

Clinical Fellow, Duke University Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Durham, NC (1993-94)

CURRENT CLINICAL INTERESTS

General hematology, hereditary spherocytosis.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

Cytoskeleton proteins in red blood cells and platelets; in particular, structure and function studies of the adducins, a family of cytoskeleton proteins required for normal red blood cell shape.

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION

Our lab focuses on studying the role of adducins, a family of cytoskeleton proteins, in a variety of cells. Adducins were discovered in red blood cells and we were the first to show that targeted disruption of the beta adducin gene in mice leads to abnormal red blood cells with characteristics similar to hereditary spherocytosis. Adducin is known to crosslink spectrin with actin in the red blood cell membrane skeleton and two of the three adducin genes are expressed in all human cells examined. We are extending studies of adducin function to platelets, where alpha and gamma adducins are rapidly phosphorylated by protein kinase C during platelet activation. Biochemical purification of adducin from human platelets will allow structural studies of the alpha/gamma complex and comparison to the alpha/beta complex of red blood cells. We are also collaborating on studies of adducin function in neurons, where cytoskeletal rearrangements accompany synaptic plasticity. We anticipate that the tissue specific disruption of adducin genes in mice (currently under construction) will further elucidate the functions of adducins in a wide variety of cells and tissues. For further information, please see our web site: http://www.psbc.org.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Bennett V and Gilligan DM: The spectrin-based membrane skeleton and micron-scale organization of the plasma membrane. Ann. Rev. Cell Biol. 9:27-66, 1993.

Gilligan DM, Lozovatsky L, and Silberfein A: Organization of the human beta adducin gene (ADD2). Genomics 43:141-148, 1997.

Gilligan DM, Lozovatsky L, Gwynn B, Brugnara C, Narla M, and Peters LL: Targeted disruption of the beta adducin gene causes spherocytosis in mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 96:10717-10722, 1999.

Suriyapperuma S, Lozovatsky L, Ciciotte SL, Peters LL and Gilligan DM:  The murine adducin gene family: alternative splicing and chromosomal localization. Mammalian Genome 11:16-23, 2000.

Gilligan DM, Sarid R, and Weese J:  Adducin in platelets: activation-induced phosphorylation by PKC and proteolysis by calpain. Blood 99:2418-2426, 2002.