Joshua Owen
Education
B.A. Berea College, 2004
Ph.D. University of Kentucky, 2010
Research
Doctoral thesis research investigated the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using proteomic methods. Proteomics involves the separation, quantification, and characterization of post-translation modifications (PTMs) of proteins. The ability to isolate and characterize proteins from tissues affected by AD provides insight about particular protein functional alterations and their relationship to abnormalities observed in disease. Proteomic investigations of AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), arguably the earliest form or AD, hippocampus and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) brain regions were evaluated using lectin-affinity chromatography to fractionate proteins. These fractions contain proteins with altered hydrophobicity, carbohydrate moieties, and potential chaperone-protein complexes. An additional part of this thesis research investigated the oxidative PTMs of LDL receptor–related protein 1 (LRP1). LRP1 is responsible for the efflux of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, the primary of component of pathological senile plaques observed in AD, from the brain to the blood across the blood brain barrier (BBB).
Graduate Training
Biological Chemistry, Proteomics
Selected Publications:
1) Peter JC, Rossez H, Weckering M, Zipfel G, Lecourt AC, Owen JB, Banks WA, Hofbauer KG. “Protective effects of an anti-melanocortin-4 receptor scFv derivative in lipopolysaccharide-induced cachexia in rats.” J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 4(1), 79-88 (2013)
2) M.A. Erickson, P.E. Hartvigson, Y. Morofuji, J.B. Owen, D.A. Butterfield and W.A. Banks, “Lipopolysaccharide impairs amyloid beta efflux from brain: altered vascular sequestration, cerebrospinal fluid reabsorption, peripheral clearance and transporter function at the blood-brain barrier,” J Neuroinflammation. 29;9(1):150. (2012).
3) W.A. Banks, J.B. Owen, and M.A. Erickson, “Insulin in the Brain: There and Back Again,” Pharmacol Ther. 36(1):82-93. (2012).
4) D.A. Butterfield and J.B. Owen, “Lectin-affinity Chromatography Brain Glycoproteomics and Alzheimer Disease: Insights into Protein Alterations Consistent with the Pathology and Progression of this Dementing Disorder,” Proteomics Clin Appl. 5, 50-6 (2011).
5) F. Di Dominico, J.B. Owen R.S. Sowell, R. Sultana, M. Perluigi, C. Cini, W. Pierce, and D.A. Butterfield, “Proteomics determined differences in the wheat germ agglutinin-fractionated proteome of hippocampus and inferior parietal lobule in subjects with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment,” J Neurosci Res. 88, 3566-77 (2010).
6) J.B. Owen, R. Sultana, C.D. Aluise, M.A. Erickson, T.O. Price, G. Bu, W.A. Banks, and D.A. Butterfield. “Oxidative Modification to LDL-receptor Related Protein 1 (LRP1) in Hippocampus from Subjects with Alzheimer’s Disease: Implications for Ab Accumulation in AD Brain.” Free Radic Biol Med, 49 1798-1803 (2010).
7) J.B. Owen and D.A. Butterfield, “Measurement of Oxidized/Reduced Glutathione Ratio," Meth Molec Biol. 648, 269-277 (2010).
8) V. Calabrese, C. Cornelius, E. Rizzarelli, J.B. Owen, A.T. Dinkova-Kostova and D.A. Butterfield, "Nitric Oxide in Cell Survival: A Janus Molecule," Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, 11, 2717-2739 (2009).
9) L. Jaeger, S. Dohgu, R. Sultana, J. Lynch, J.B. Owen, M. Erickson, G. Shah, T. Price, M. Fleegal-Demotta, D.A. Butterfield, and W.A. Banks, “Lipolysaccharide Alters the Blood-brain Barrier Transport of Amyloid Beta Protein: A Mechanism for Inflammation in the Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease,” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 23, (4) 507-17 (2009).
10) J.B. Owen, F. Di Dominico, R. Sultana, M. Perluigi, C. Cini, W. Pierce, and D.A. Butterfield, “Proteomics-Determined Differences in the Concanavalin-A-Fractionated Proteome of Hippocampus and Inferior Parietal Lobule in Subjects with Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Implications for Progression of AD,” J Proteome Res 8, 471-482 (2009).
11) T.T. Reed, J. Owen, W.M. Pierce, A. Sebastian, P. Sullivan, and D.A. Butterfield, “Proteomic identification of nitrated brain proteins in traumatic brain-injured rats treated with gamma-gluamylcysteine ethyl ester; insights into the role of elevation of glutathione as a potential therapeutic strategy for traumatic brain injury,” J. Neurosci Res 87, 408-17 (2009).
12) R.A. Sowell, J.B. Owen, and D.A. Butterfield, “Proteomics in Animal Models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases,” Ageing Res. Reviews 8, 1-17 (2009).
13) J.B. Owen, W.O. Opii, C. Ramassamy, W.M. Pierce, and D.A. Butterfield, “Proteomic analysis of brain protein expression levels in NF-kappa-beta p50 -/- homozygous knockout mice,” Brain Res. 1240, 22-30. (2008).
