Prescott Deininger
Professor, Regents Distinguished Chair, and Director of the Tulane Cancer Center

Department(s):
Epidemiology

Email:
pdeinin@tulane.edu

Research Interests:
Molecular and cancer epidemiology

Professional Achievements:
Executive editor for Analytical Biochemistry, 1990-present
Member of the Editorial Board for Analytical Biochemistry, 1983-1990
Member of the Editorial Board for DNA Sequence 1989-
Member of the Editorial Board for Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 1997
Member of NIH Reviewer Reserve 1995-1999
Member of the Calif. Mol. Biol. of Breast Cancer Study Section, 1996
Member of the DOD Breast Cancer Study Section, 1996-98
Member of NIH Molecular Biology Study Section, 1991-1995, Reviewer Reserve, 1996-1999
Ad hoc member of Special Human Genome Study Section and Mol. Biol. Study Section, 1989, 1990
Ad hoc member of ACS Molecular Biology Study Section, 1991
American Cancer Society Scholar in Dr. Charles Stiles lab, 1988-89
Member of AACR, ASBMB, ASHG, AAAS, ASM

Educational Background:
Postdoc, molecular genetics, MRC Lab. of Mol. Biol., Cambridge, U.K., 1981
Postdoc, molecular genetics, Univ. of California, San Diego, CA, 1980
PhD, biophysical chemistry, Univ. of California, Davis, CA, 1978
AB, chemistry, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 1973

Publications:
A selection of recent publications:
Belancio VP, Deininger PL, Roy-Engel AM. (2009) LINE dancing in the human genome: transposable elements and disease. Genome Med 1(10):97.

Belancio VP, Hedges DJ, Deininger P. (2008) Mammalian non-LTR retrotransposons: for better or worse, in sickness and in health. Genome Res 18(3):343-58.

Belancio VP, Whelton M, Deininger PL. (2007) Requirements for polyadenylation at the 3' end of LINE-1 elements. Gene 390(1-2):98-107.

Gasior SL, Preston G, Hedges DJ, Gilbert N, Moran JV, Deininger PL. (2007). Characterization of pre-insertion loci of de novo L1 insertions. Gene 390(1-2):190-8.

Hedges DJ, Deininger PL. (2007) Inviting instability: transposable elements, double-strand breaks, and the maintenance of genome integrity. Mutation Research 616(1-2):46-59.

Deininger P. (2006) Alu elements. Genomic Disorders: The Genomic Basis of Disease (Lupski and Stankiewicz, eds) Human Press, pp 25-39.

Gasior SL, Palmisano M, Deininger PL. (2005) Alu-linked hairpins efficiently mediate RNA interference with less toxicity than H1-expressed shRNAs. Anal Biochem.

El-Sawy M, Kale SP, Dugan C, Nguyen TQ, Belancio V, Bruch H, Roy-Engel AM, Deininger PL. (2005) Nickel stimulates L1 retrotransposition by a post-transcriptional mechanism. J. Mol. Biol. 354:246-57

Kale SP, Moore L, Deininger PL and Roy-Engel AM. (2005) Heavy metals stimulate human LINE-1 retrotransposition. Int.J.Env.Res. Public Health.

Roy-Engel AM, El-Sawy M, Farooq L, Odom GL, Perepelitsa-Belancio V, Bruch H, Oyeniran OO, and Deininger PL. (2005) Human retroelements may introduce intragenic polyadenylation sites. Cytogenetic and Genome Research.

El-Sawy M and Deininger PL. (2005) Tandem insertions of ALU elements. Cytogenetic and Genome Research 108, 58-62.

Lentz J, Savas S, Ng SS, Athas G, Deininger PL and Keats B. (2004) The USH1C 216 G?A splice-site mutation results in a 35-base-pair deletion. Human Genetics 116:225-7

Odom GL, Robichaux JL and Deininger PL (2004) Predicting mammalian SINE subfamily activity from A-tail length. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 21, 2140-2148.

Savas S, Frischhertz B, Batzer MA, Deininger PL and Keats BJB. (2004) Structure, diversity and evolution of the 45-bp VNTR in intron 5 of the USH1C gene. Genomics 83: 439-44.

Kass DH, Knight A and Deininger PL. (2004) Evolution of a hypervariable region of the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene in humans and other hominoids. Genetica 121; 187-193.

Perepelitsa-Belancio V and Deininger PL. (2003) RNA truncation by premature polyadenylation attenuates human mobile element activity. Nature Genetics 35, 363-366. [commentaries in ‘The Scientist’ and ‘Nature Reviews Genetics’]

Deininger PL, Moran JV, Batzer MA and Kazazian HH Jr. (2003) Mobile elements and mammalian genome evolution. Curr. Opin. Genet. & Dev. 13, 1-8.

Johanning K, Alemán-Stevenson C, Oyeniran OO, Gozal YM, Roy-Engel AM, Jurka J and Deininger PL. (2003) Potential for retroposition by old Alu subfamilies. J. Mol. Evol. 56; 658-664.

Batzer M and Deininger PL. (2002) Alu repeats and human genomic diversity. Nature Reviews: Genetics. 3: 370-379.

Deininger PL and Batzer M. (2002) Mammalian Retroelements. Genome Research 12:1455-1465.

Personal Statement:
We are interested in how human mobile elements contribute an intrinsic instability to the human genome. This is particularly relevant to the causation of cancer. We are exploring the variations in these elements between different individuals to determine whether they contribute to disease risk differentially for different individuals.

Contact Information:
Department of Epidemiology
1324 Tulane Avenue, Suite 475
New Orleans, LA 70112
Telephone: 504.988.6385
Fax: 504.988.5516
pdeinin@tulane.edu