DEBRA M. MORIARITY Ph.D.

DEBRA M. MORIARITY, Ph.D.

Professor of Biological Sciences,

Dean of Graduate School

         Office of the Dean
            Materials Science Building C-206
            The University of Alabama in Huntsville
            Huntsville, AL 35899
                    phone: 256-824-6002
                    fax:      256-824-6405
                    email: moriard@uah.edu

EDUCATION

B.S., Biochemistry, 1976, Pennsylvania State University

Ph.D., Biochemistry, 1981, Temple University School of Medicine

COURSES TAUGHT

BYS 119            Principles of Biology
BYS 219            General Genetics
BYS 340            Basic Cellular, Molecular & Developmental Biology
BYS 361            General Biochemistry
BYS 363            General Biochemistry II
BYS 365            General Biochemisry Laboratory II
BYS 543            Cellular and Developmental Biology
BYS 491/691     Special Topics in Physiological Biochemistry
                           Special Topics in Tissue Culture
                           Special Topics in Growth Factors and Oncogenes

RESEARCH INTERESTS

As a member of the UAH Natural Products Research Group, I am involved in the search for new biologically active compounds from tropical plants. In my laboratory we screen crude extract of plants for their cytotoxic activity against a panel of human tumor cell lines, including liver, breast, bladder, epidermoid, melanoma and prostate cancer cell lines. The cytotoxicity assay is then used in bioactivity-guided isolation of the active compounds from these crude extracts. NMR and X-ray crystallographic techniques are then used to determine the structure and identity of the active compounds.

One of my long-standing research interests is the regulation of cellular growth. I have been especially interested in epidermal growth factor (EGF), its receptor and its mechanism of action. My Ph.D. research, done with Dr. C. Richard Savage, Jr. at Temple University, examined the nature of the interaction of EGF with normal liver cells and with hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Since then, I have continued to study the expression of the EGF receptor on various cell lines, and am interested in further studies of the role of both EGF and the EGF receptor in the development of cancer.