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Administrative Assistant: Blanca Gonzalez
Mail Code 0746
Telephone 858-822-1058
FAX 858-822-2906
Email b3gonzalez@ucsd.edu
Academic Profile
Laura Dugan, M.D., is Professor of Medicine and the inaugural holder of the Larry L. Hillblom Chair in Geriatric Medicine at UCSD. She holds joint appointments in UC San Diego’s Departments of Medicine and Neurosciences.
She received her BS in Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her MD from the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the UC San Francisco Children’s Hospital of San Francisco, and served as Chief Resident in Medicine her final year.
She has been the recipient of a Dana Research Fellowship, a Paul Beeson Physician Scholars Award through the American Federation for Aging Research, a Hartford Foundation Award for Geriatric Research, a Hartford Leadership Scholars in Geriatric Medicine Award, the Kopolow Award for Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, and an Innovation Award from the St. Louis Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Dugan's research focuses on the basic biology of nervous system aging and the role of free radical neurobiology in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Recent work has focused on the role of inflammatory cascades and affects on various neural circuitry, including inhibitory neurotransmitter systems. Her laboratory is involved in characterizing the role of free radicals, oxidative stress and the more subtle effects of free radicals on intracellular signaling cascades in aging brain.
In addition, her lab is widely known for their translational research into rationally-designed buckminsterfullerene derivatives as antioxidants and neuroprotective agents. Her group recently reported that one of these nanosynzymes could extend rodent lifespan, and decrease age-related cognitive decline.
Current work is extending these results to identify molecular targets of the effects of fullerene-based compounds in aging using cell culture and rodent models.
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Selected Publications
- Dugan LL, Bruno VMG, Amagasu SM, and Giffard RG. (1995) Glia modulate the response of murine cortical neurons to excitotoxicity: glia exacerbate AMPA neurotoxicity. J. Neurosci., 15:4545-4555.
- Dugan LL, Sensi SL, Canzoniero LMT, Handran SD, Rothman SM, Lin TT, Goldberg MP, and Choi DW. (1995) Mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species in cortical neurons following exposure to N-methyl-D-aspartate. J. Neurosci., 15:6377-6388.
- Dugan LL, Creedon DJ, Johnson EM, and Holtzman DM. (1997) Rapid suppression of free radical formation by NGF involves the MAPK pathway. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94:4086-4091.
- Dugan LL, Turetsky DM, Du C, Lobner D, Wheeler M, Almli R, Shen CKF, Luh TY, Choi, DW and Lin TS. (1997) Carboxyfullerenes as Neuroprotective Agents. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94:9434-9439.
- Quick KL and Dugan LL. (2001) Superoxide stress identifies neurons at-risk in a model of ataxia-telangiectasia. Ann. Neurol. 49:627-635.
- Reichert SA, Kim-Han JS, Dugan LL. (2001) The mitochondrial permeability transition and nitric oxide synthase mediate early mitochondrial depolarization in astrocytes during oxygen-glucose deprivation. J. Neurosci., 21:6608-16.
- De Erasquin GA, Hyrc K, Dorsey DA, Mamah D, Dokucu M, Masco DH, Walton T, Dikranian K, Soriano M, Verdugo JMG, Goldberg MP, Dugan LL. (2003) Nuclear translocation of nuclear transcription factor-kB by a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isozolepropionic acid receptors leads to transcription of p53 and cell death in dopaminergic neurons. Mol. Pharmacol. 63:784-90.
- Ali SS, Hardt JI, Quick KL, Kim-Han JS, Erlanger BF, Huang T-T, Epstein CJ, Dugan LL. (2004) A biologically effective fullerene (C60) derivative with superoxide dismutase mimetic properties. Free Rad. Biol. Med. 37:1191-202.
- Quick, KL, Ali, SS,Arch, R, Xiong, C, Wozniak, D, Dugan, LL. (2006) A carboxyfullerene SOD mimetic improves cognition and extends the lifespan of mice. Neurobiology of Aging, E-Pub 9/06, Print 29:117-28 (2008).
- Ali, SS, Xiong, C, Lucero, J, Behrens, MM, Dugan, LL*, Quick, KL. (2006) Gender differences in free radical homeostasis during aging: Shorter-lived female C57BL6 mice have increased oxidative stress. Aging Cell 5:565-74. *Corresponding author.
- Behrens, MM, Ali, SS, Dao, DN, Lucero, J, Shekhtman, G, Quick, KL, Dugan, LL. (2007) Brain NADPH-oxidase mediates ketamine effects on parvalbumin-expressing fast-spiking interneurons. Science 318:1645-7.
- Cuddihy, SL, Ali, SS, Musiek, E, Lucero, J, Kopp, S, Morrow, J, Dugan, LL. (2008) Prolonged a-tocopherol deficiency decreases oxidative stress and unmasks a-tocopherol-dependent regulation of mitochondrial function in brain. J. Biol. Chem., 283:6915-24.
- Ali, SS, Hardt, JI, Dugan, LL. (2008) SOD activity of carboxyfullerenes predicts their neuroprotective efficacy: A structure-activity study. Nanomedicine, 4:283-94.
- Behrens, MM, Ali, SS, Dugan, LL. (2008) Interleukin-6 mediates the increase in NADPH-oxidase in the ketamine model of schizophrenia. J. Neuroscience, 28:13957-66.
- Dugan LL, Ali SS, Shekhtman, G, Roberts, AJ, Lucero, J, Quick, KL, Behrens, MM. (2009) IL-6 mediated degeneration of forebrain GABAergic interneurons and cognitive impairment in aged mice through activation of neuronal NADPH oxidase. PLoS ONE. 2009, 4:e5518. Epub May, 2009.
- Douglas RM, Ryu J, Kanaan A, Rivero MD, Dugan LL, Haddad GG, Ali SS. (2010) Neuronal death during combined intermittent hypoxia/hypercapnia is due to mitochondrial dysfunction. Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol. 298:C1594-602. PMID: 20357179.
- Ali SS, Marcondes MCG, Bajova H, Dugan LL, Conti B. (2010) Metabolic depression and increased ROS production by isolated mitochondria at moderately lower temperatures. J. Biol. Chem. 285:32522-8. PMID: 20716522.
- Ali SS, Young JW, Wallace CK, Gresack J, Jeste DV, Geyer MA, Dugan LL, Risbrough VB. (2011) Initial evidence linking synaptic superoxide production with poor short-term memory in aged mice. Brain Res. 1368:65-70. PMID: 21075081.
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