Zahi Damuni, PhD
Biography
Dr. Zahi Damuni received his Bachelor of Science and PhD degrees from the University of Dundee in Scotland. He then carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Texas in Austin before moving to the University of South Carolina in Columbia as Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. In 1993, Dr. Damuni was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey Pennsylvania, where he was awarded tenure after three years of service based on his teaching, research and service records. As an independent investigator, Dr. Damuni’s research focused on the regulation and function of cellular signaling pathways with particular emphasis on the role of the tumor suppressor multifunctional Protein Serine/Threonine Phosphatase 2A. His laboratory was the first to discover two potent cancer- and other disease-associated inhibitor proteins of the enzyme (I1PP2A and I2PP2A). In 2001, Dr. Damuni founded GloboZymes, a small biotechnology company based on his original research. The company remained in business for nineteen years before it was sold. In 2014, Dr. Damuni moved to Saint James School of Medicine in Anguilla as a Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology. Based on his performance, he was appointed Director of Physiology the following year. In 2017, Dr. Damuni joined the faculty at the Saba University School of Medicine where he was appointed Director of Metabolism and Nutrition after one semester. Over the years Dr. Damuni has had a great deal of measurable success in the training of undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. He joined Ross University School of Medicine in January 2021 as Professor of Biochemistry.
Medical Biochemistry
Physiology
Training
Undergraduate:
1975 – 1979 University of Dundee Scotland BSc
Graduate:
1979 –1983 University of Dundee Biochemistry PhD
Advisor: Sir Philip Cohen
Postdoctoral:
1983 – 1987 University of Texas at Austin
Advisor: Lester J. Reed
BSc Biochemistry with Honors
Tenure, The Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine 1997
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology member since 1987
Harmala-Brasken, A-S., Mikhailov, A., Soderstrom, T., Meinander, A., Holmstrom, T., Damuni, Z. & Eriksson, J.E. (2003) "Type-2A protein phosphatase activity is required to maintain death receptor responsiveness" Oncogene 22, 7677-7686.
Lynch, C. J., Halle, B., Fujii, H., Vary, T. C., Wallin, R., Damuni, Z. & Hutson, S. M. (2003) "Potential role of leucine metabolism in the leucine-signaling pathway involving mTOR" Am J Physiol 285, E854-863.
Dobson, S., Kumar, R., Bracchi-Ricard, V., Freeman, S., Al-Murrani, S. W., Johnson, C., Damuni, Z., Chakrabarti, D. & Barik, S. (2003) "Characterization of a unique aspartate-rich protein of the SET/TAF-family in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which inhibits protein phosphatase 2A" Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 126, 239-250.
Chen, Y., Matsushita, M., Nairn, A. C., Damuni, Z., Cai, D., Frerichs, K. U. & Hallenbeck, J. M. (2001) "Mechanisms for increased phosphorylation of Elongation Factor-2 during hibernation in ground squirrels" Biochemistry 40, 11565-11570.
Katayose, Y., Li, M., Al-Murrani, S. W. K., Shenolikar, S. & Damuni, Z. (2000) "Protein phosphatase 2A inhibitors, I1PP2A and I2PP2A, associate with and modify the substrate specificity of protein phosphatase 1" J. Biol. Chem. 2000, 9209-9214.
Idriss, H., Damuni, Z. & Wilson, S. H. (1999) "Phosphorylation of HIV reverse transcriptase in vitro and in SF 9 cells" Int. J. Biochem. 31, 1443-1452.
Al-Murrani, S. W. K., Woodgett, J. R. & Damuni, Z. (1999) "Expression of I2PP2A, an inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A induces c-Jun and AP-1 activity" Biochem J. 341, 293-298.
Li, M., Makkinje, A. & Damuni, Z. (1996) "Molecular identification of I1PP2A, a novel heat-stable inhibitor protein of protein phosphatase 2A" Biochemistry, 35, 6998-7002.
Li, M., Makkinje, A. & Damuni, Z. (1996) "The myeloid leukemia- associated protein SET is a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A" J. Biol. Chem. 271, 11059-11062.
Damuni, Z., Li, M., Xiong, H. & Makkinje, A. (1995) "Regulation of protein phosphatase 2A by phosphorylation and heat-stable protein inhibitors" Adv. Prot. Phosphatase 9, 233-247.
Makkinje, A., Xiong, H., Li, M. & Damuni, Z. (1995) "Phosphorylation of eukaryotic protein synthesis initiation factor 4E by insulin-stimulated protamine kinase" J. Biol. Chem. 270, 14824-14828.