M. Raafat El-Maghrabi
Research Associate Professor

Director of Ph.D. Graduate Studies

Ph.D. Wake Forest University, 1978

Office: Basic Science Tower, T-6, Room 170
Lab: Basic Science Tower, T-6, Room168
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8661

Phone: (631) 444-3049 (office)
Phone: (631) 444-3045 (lab)
Email:

El-Maghrabi Web Page

Research

Research in my laboratory deals with two facets of metabolic regulation of gene expression. First, delineating the factors involved in regulating expression of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase genes; the products of these genes are responsible for modulating rates of glycolysis in almost all cell types. For example a novel form of the enzyme is over expressed in brain tumor cell lines, and we are investigating what factors are responsible for the activation of the gene. The studies involve mapping of the regulatory regions of the genes with respect to transcription factor and hormonal binding sites. A second interest of the lab deals with the structure/function relationships of the products of these genes, the enzymes themselves, with respect to reciprocal regulation of the two opposing activities by phosphorylation, and the interaction of the two domains. These studies involve expression of wild type and mutated forms of the enzyme using bacterial expression systems and kinetic and structural analysis of the various forms.

Selected Publications

Gidh-Jain, M., Zhang, Y., van Peolje, P.D., Liang, J-Y., Huang, S., Kim, J., Elliott, J.T. Erion, M.D., Lipscomb, W. N., Pilkis, S.J. and El-Maghrabi, M.R. The Allosteric site of Human Liver Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase: Analysis of Six AMP site Mutants based on the Crystal Structure. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269:27732-27738.

Maitra, S. R., Pan, W., Lange, A.J., El-Maghrabi, M.R., and Abumrad, N. N. Glucose-6-Phosphatase Gene Expression and Activity are Modulated in Hemorrhagic Shock; Evidence for a New Heat-Sensitive Activator. (1994) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 204: 716-724.

Ventura, F., Ambrosio, S. Bartrons, R. Lange, A.J. and El-Maghrabi, M.R. Cloning and Expression of a Catalytic Core Bovine Brain 6-Phofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphposphatase. (1995) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 209: 1140-1148.

El-Maghrabi, M.R., Lange, A.J., Jiang, W., Yamagata, K., Stoffel, M., Takeda, J., Fernald, A. A., Le Beau, M. M., Bell, G.I., Baker, L., and Pilkis, S.J. Human Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase Gene (FBP1): Exon-Intron Organization, Localization to Chromosome Bands 9q22.2-q22.3, and Mutation Screening in Subjects with Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase Deficiency. (1995) Genomics 27:520-525.

Herrmann, M.E., El-Maghrabi, M.R., Abumrad, N.N., Lang, C.H., Lane, M.A., Baunach, D.A., and Moll, U.M. No Mutations within Conserved Domain I of the p53 Gene in Medullary Thyroid Cancer. (1996) Oncol. Reports 3:269-271.