Contact Information

Dr. Allen Phillips
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry
208 South Frear Building
TEL: 865-1247
FAX: 863-7024
EMAIL: atp@psu.edu

Related Website:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/a/t/atp/

Lab Description

Research in my laboratory deals with the enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism, specifically those needed for the degradation of histidine. We study the properties of the enzymes, the genes that encode them, how those genes are expressed, and how the enzymes are regulated, so as to understand the "big picture" for histidine's metabolism by all species. Histidine is one of several amino acids whose degradation has been found to be defective in some persons due to genetic abnormalities; such individuals may therefore suffer from histidinemia (absence of active histidine ammonia-lyase), urocanic acidemia (absence of active urocanase), or several much less common disorders. Understanding the biochemical as well as the genetic basis for these histidine metabolic defects permit better and earlier detection of the conditions and help in the treatment of those afflicted, much as has been successfully done in the case of phenylketonuria (defective phenylalanine metabolism).

Our work examines histidine metabolism using microbial systems which exhibit rapid growth, permit complex gene manipulations, and produce larger amounts of enzymes for study. Individual projects provide experience in microbial growth, sterile techniques, plasmid isolation and characterization, protein and DNA electrophoresis, analysis of DNA sequence information, spectrophotometry, and quantitative measurement of enzyme activity. Students will learn how to design experiments, evaluate and follow established or modified experimental protocols, analyze their results, and keep a laboratory data notebook. A brief written report summarizing the work undertaken and accomplishments will be required at the end of each semester.

Previous WISER Students

Puja Patel: pap5008@psu.edu

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Last Updated: June 11, 2007

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