Email:  cfuller@uab.edu
  Telephone: 205.934.6227
  Fax: 205.975.7679
  Bldg/Room: MCLM 830

Cathy Fuller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, received her B.Sc. (Hons.) degree from the University of London (1982), and her Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool (1985), in the laboratory of Prof. O.H. Petersen. She was a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. I. Schulz at the Max Planck Institut fur Biophysik (Frankfurt, Germany), from 1985-1988. She joined the Department of Physiology and Biophysics as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Dale J. Benos in 1988. She joined the faculty of the department in 1995.

Research

Our lab is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of epithelial Na⁺ and Cl^- channels. These cell membrane proteins have important roles to play in the regulation of whole-body salt and water homeostasis. We have an on-going commitment to research in cystic fibrosis, a disease that afflicts approximately one infant out of every 2000 live births in North America. In this disease, the airways become plugged with mucus as a result of insufficient salt and water secretion, due to a mutation in a chloride channel known as the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) protein. Using techniques such as cDNA cloning and expression, we have identified in human airways a new family of proteins that behave as calcium-activated chloride channels (CLCAs) that may prove to be an important pharmacological target for therapy in CF. In addition these proteins are thought to be up-regulated in asthma and may have a role in tumor suppression. In addition, we are interested in the part that ion channels play in tumor growth and proliferation. In particular we are exploring the role that members of the large ENaC/Degenrin family of amiloride-senstive Na⁺ channels have in brain tumor biology. Current projects in the lab include the use of fluorescent techniques for the study of ion transport, analysis of structure/function relationships in both CLCA and ENaC/ASIC ion channels using techniques such as RT-PCR, and site-directed mutagenesis, and identification of cellular signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and proliferation.

Selected Publications

• Gruber, A.D., K.D. Schreur, H.-L. Ji, C.M. Fuller, and B.U. Pauli. (1999) Molecular cloning and transmembrane structure of hCLCA2, from human lung, trachea and mammary gland. Am. J. Physiol.276: C1261-C1270. Subject of Editorial Focus “Ca²⁺-activated Cl- channels” Cuppoletti, J. and D.H. Malinowska. (1999) Am. J. Physiol. 276:C1259-C1260.
   

• Copeland, S.J., B.K. Berdiev, J. Lockhart, S. Parker, C.M. Fuller, and D.J. Benos. (2001) Regions in the carboxy-terminal of abENaC involved in gating and actin binding. Am. J. Physiol.. 281:C231-C240.
   

• Berdiev, B.K., J. Xia, B. Jovov, J. M. Markert, T. B. Mapstone, G. Y. Gillespie, C.M. Fuller, J. K. Bubien, and D.J. Benos. (2002) PKC isoform antagonism controls BNaC2 function. J. Biol. Chem. 277:45734-45740.
   

• Thévenod, F., E. Roussa, D. J. Benos, and C. M. Fuller. Relationship between a HCO_3-- permeable conductance and a CLCA protein from rat pancreatic zymogen granules. (2003) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 300:546-554.
   

• Berdiev, B.K., J. Xia, L.-A. McLean, J.M. Markert, G. Y. Gillespie, T. B. Mapstone, A. P. Naren, B. Jovov, J.K. Bubien, H.-L. Ji, C. M. Fuller, K. L. Kirk, and D.J. Benos. (2003) Acid-sensing ion channels in malignant gliomas. J. Biol. Chem. 278:15023-15034.
   

• Editor, Calcium-activated Chloride Channels. (2002). Current Topics in Membranes, Vol. 53, Academic Press San Diego.