Jay Heinecke, MD
Title:
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition
Email Address:
Background:
Dr. Heinecke earned his MD degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1981 and then came to the UW for a residency in internal medicine. He was also a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition and then a senior fellow in the UW Department of Biochemistry from 1987 until 1990. He was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis from 1991 until 2002, when he was professor of medicine and professor of molecular biology and pharmacology there. In 2002, he returned to the UW to take his current position. He also directs the Mass Spectrometry Resource in the Department of Medicine and is an attending physician at UW Medical Center and a member of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program. He holds the Karasinski Chair in Metabolic Research.
Dr. Heinecke has received numerous awards, including the American Heart Association's Jeffrey M. Hoeg Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Wall Biology Award in 2001 and an Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Washington University Graduate Student Senate in 2002. He is a member of several editorial boards, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Lipid Research and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Focus:
Dr. Heinecke's resaerch focuses on understanding the role of macrophages in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, diabetes and obesity. A major effort is directed towards identifying specific proteins that are targeted for posttranslational modifications implicated in regulation of macrophage activation.
Current studies include:
- Investigating pathways that regulate the activities of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are of central importance in macrophage biology and atherosclerosis;
- Use of animals with genetically engineered deficiencies in phagocyte oxidant generation and MMPs to understand the role of oxidants and proteases in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, vascular disease and obesity;
- Human and animal studies exploring the links between the HDL proteome, insulin resistance, diabetes and susceptibility to cardiovascular
disease.
Representative Publications:
Shao B., Oda M.N., Bergt C., Fu X., Green P.S., Brot N., Oram J.F., Heinecke J.W.: Myeloperoxidase impairs ABCA1-dependent cholesterol efflux through methionine oxidation and site-specific tyrosine chlorination of apolipoprotein A-I. J. Biol. Chem. 2006;281:9001-4.
Heinecke J.W.: Chemical knock-out of C-reactive protein. Nature Chem. Biol. 2006; 2:300-1, 2006.
Vaisar T., Pennathur S., Green P.S., Gharib S.A., Hoofnagle A.N., Cheung M.C., Byun J., uletic S., Chait A., Zhao X.Q., Elkon K., Marcovina S., Ridker P., Oram J.F., Heinecke J.W.: Shotgun proteomics implicates protease inhibition and complement activation in the anti-inflammatory properties of HDL. J. Clin. Invest. 2007; 117:746-56.
Kirk E.A., Sagawa Z.K., McDonald T.O., O’Brien K.D., Heinecke J.W.: MCP-1 deficiency fails to restrain macrophage infiltration into adipose tissue. Diabetes. 2008;57:1254-61.
Shao B., Cavigiolio G., Brot N., Oda M.N., Heinecke J.W.: Methionine oxidation impairs reverse cholesterol transport by apolipoprotein A-I. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2008;105:12224-9.
Current Collaborations:
Within the Diabetes and Obesity Center of Excellence and its Affiliated Members
Jack Oram, PhD
Renee LeBoeuf, PhD
Karin Bornfeldt, PhD
Alan Chait, MD
Michael Schwartz, MD
Lab Members:
Andy Hoofnagle, MD, PhD
Jake Wimberger, MS
Angela Irwin, MS
Baohai Shao, PhD
Celeste Lee, PhD
Ilona Babenko
Lev Becker, PhD
Ning-Chun Liu, PhD
Masashi Suzuki, PhD
Phill Mayer, PhD
Rich Green, MS
Tomas Vaisar, PhD
Wei Yuan, PhD
Zack Sagawa, MS