NIH Funds Allen to Explore Insulin-Linked Metabolic Pathway
Continuing their highly productive (32 publications), 20-year collaboration, Professor Karen Allen and Dr. Debra Dunaway-Mariano, University of New Mexico, have received a 4-year, $1.26 million award from the NIH. 
The team is known for much of the current understanding of catalysis and specificity of the Haloalkanoic Acid Dehalogenase Superfamily (HADSF). This current award, “Structure and Function of HAD Phosphatase Partners Dullard and Lipin,” represents a new and highly innovative research direction for the the Co-Investigators. Using an interdisciplinary approach, they will investigate the structural basis for the function of two enzymes that utilize the same protein scaffold to interact with and dephosphorylate macromolecules and phospholipids at the cell membrane. The Co-Principal Investigators bring their respective expertise to address the problem. Karen Allen will direct the protein chemistry, bioinformatics, X-ray crystallographic and Small-angle X-ray Scattering aspects of this project. Debra Dunaway-Mariano will direct the substrate screening, assay development, and radio-labeled vesicle binding studies.
By defining the structural features of enzymes that allow recognition of specific proteins and cell membrane components, the study will provide significant insight into the complexities of cell lipid metabolism. The findings will lay the foundation for the rational design of therapeutic agents to treat the diseases associated with diabetes and clinically identified defects in fat metabolism.
