Dr. Robert Tukey

Contact Info:
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0722

Email:

Phone Number:
858-822-0288

Bio/Research Summary:

I am interested in examining the role of xenobiotic receptors and the cellular events that regulate their function in controlling targeted gene expression. Postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and research staff work in one of two areas. The first involves the contribution of hazardous environmental toxicants in controlling gene expression and the events that lead to a toxic response using models of tissue culture as well as mice. Efforts are underway to examine the cellular signaling pathways that are involved in toxicant induced stress responses and the impact these responses have on cellular signaling mechanisms within defined cellular models. Work has evolved that is examining the role of these toxicants on dioxin receptor function, P450 regulation and cell specific directed apoptosis. The second major project is an examination and understanding of the cellular events involved in the control and regulation of the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase(UGT) genes in humans. Our efforts are directed toward characterizing those events that lead to the coordinated regulation of the UGT1A locus. Using approaches that include the characterization of UGT1A polymorphisms through functional analysis of the different UGT1A proteins and examination of the regulatory events that control UGT1A expression, we are understanding of the role of these proteins in conventional patterns of drug metabolism but also as important regulators in preventing toxic or mutagenic episodes.