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Faculty Detail    
Name DANIEL F BALKOVETZ
  
Campus Address LHRB 668 Zip 0007
Phone  (205) 934-3589
E-mail  balkovet@uab.edu
Other websites
     


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Med - Nephrology  Med - Nephrology Professor
Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Professor
Center  GL Ctr for Craniofacial, Oral, & Dental Disorders  GL Ctr for Craniofacial, Oral, & Dental Disorders Professor
Center  Nephrology Research & Training Center  Nephrology Research & Training Center Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Cancer Biology 
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology 
Cellular and Molecular Biology Program 
Hughes Med-Grad Fellowship Program 
Medical Scientist Training Program 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
Daniel Balkovetz (b. 1960), Professor, completed his M.D. and Ph.D. (Mentors Frederick Leibach and Vadivel Ganapathy) programs at the Medical College of Georgia. After his residency and postdoctoral training (Mentor David Warnock) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he completed Nephrology and Epithelial Cell Biology (Mentor Keith Mostov) fellowship training at the University of California, San Francisco. He joined the Nephrology and Cell Biology faculty at UAB in 1996. His outside interests include his family.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Society of Nephrology    www.asn-online.org/ 
Southern Society for Clinical Research     
The American Physiological Society    www.the-aps.org 
The American Society for Cell Biology    www.ascb.org 
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Epithelial Cell Biology; Epithelial Cell Signal Regulation; Regulation of paracellular transport across epithelial cell tight junctions
Description
We are interested in basic issues of epithelial cell biology. We are studying the control of paracellular transport across renal epithelia by a newly discovered family of tight junction associated proteins called claudins. Our lab is also examining the mechanisms controlling contact inhibition of mitosis in epithelial cells and focusing on the regulation of the ERK signaling pathway. These areas are important in the understanding of basic renal physiology as well as during important clinical situations such as organ regeneration following injury and transformation of epithelium to carcinoma. Our lab is also studying interactions of bacterial pathogens with epithelium and epithelial factors, which influence the susceptibility of the epithelium to these pathogens.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Fleiszig, SMJ, Vallas, V, Jun, CH, Mok, L, Balkovetz, DF, Roth, M, Mostov, KE: Susceptibility of Epithelial Cells to Pseudomonas aeruginosa Invasion and Cytotoxicity is Upregulated by Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF). Infect. Immun., 66(7): 3443-3446, 1998.  9632620 
Balkovetz DF, Pollack AL, Mostov KE: Hepatocyte Growth Factor Alters the Polarity of MDCK Cell Monolayers. J. Biol. Chem. 272(6): 3471-3477, 1997.  9013593 
Panwar B, Johnson VA, Patel M, Balkovetz DF.: Risk of Vancomycin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in the Population with Chronic Kidney Disease. Am J Med Sci. 2012.   23103440 
Basireddy M, Lindsay JT, Agarwal A, Balkovetz DF
Epithelial cell polarity and hypoxia influence heme oxygenase-1 expression by heme in renal epithelial cells.
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2006 Oct;291(4):F790-5. Epub 2006 Apr 18. 		 16622174 
Balkovetz DF
Claudins at the gate: determinants of renal epithelial tight junction paracellular permeability.
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2006 Mar;290(3):F572-9. 		 16461756 
Zhang P, Yang QB, Balkovetz DF, Lewis JP, Clements JD, Michalek SM, Katz J
Effectiveness of the B subunit of cholera toxin in potentiating immune responses to the recombinant hemagglutinin/adhesin domain of the gingipain Kgp from Porphyromonas gingivalis.
Vaccine. 2005 Sep 15;23(39):4734-44
 		 15955601 
Hellman NE, Greco AJ, Rogers KK, Kanchagar C, Balkovetz DF, Lipschutz JH
Activated extracellular signal-regulated kinases are necessary and sufficient to initiate tubulogenesis in renal tubular MDCK strain I cell cysts.
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2005 Oct;289(4):F777-85. 		 15900019 
Lipschutz JH, Li S, Arisco A, Balkovetz DF.
Extracellular-signal-regulated kinases 1/2 control claudin-2 expression in Madin-Darby canine kidney strain I and II cells.
J Biol Chem. 2004 Nov 29 		 15569684 
Burrus JK, Matheson WD, Hong JS, Sorscher EJ, Balkovetz DF.
Hepatocyte growth factor stimulates adenoviral-mediated gene transfer across the apical membrane of epithelial cells.
J Gene Med. 2004 Jun;6(6):624-30. 		 15170733 
Li S, Gerrard ER Jr, Balkovetz DF.
Evidence for ERK1/2 phosphorylation controlling contact inhibition of proliferation in Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells.
Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2004 Aug;287(2):C432-9.  		 15070810 
Wade BK, Burrus JK, Balkovetz DF.
Hepatocyte growth factor inhibits intrinsic antibacterial activity of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells.
Microbes Infect. 2004 Jan;6(1):51-7. 		 14738893 
Balkovetz DF, Gerrard ER Jr, Li S, Johnson D, Lee J, Tobias JW, Rogers KK, Snyder RW, Lipschutz JH. Related Articles, Links
Gene expression alterations during HGF-induced dedifferentiation of a renal tubular epithelial cell line (MDCK) using a novel canine DNA microarray.
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2004 Apr;286(4):F702-10. Epub 2003 Dec 09.  		 14665430 
Katz J, Yang Q-B, Zhang P, Potempa J, Michalek SM, and Balkovetz DF: Hydrolysis of Epithelial Junctional Proteins by Porphyromonas gingivalis Gingipains. Infect. Immun., 70:2512-2518, 2002.  11953390 
Krishnasami Z, Carlton D, Bimbo L, Taylor ME, Balkovetz DF, and Allon M: Management of hemodialysis catheter related bacteremia with an adjunctive antibiotic lock solution. Kidney Int., 61:1136-1142, 2002.  11849468 
Yoder BK, Tousson A, Millican L, Wu JH, Bugg CE, Schafer JA, and Balkovetz DF: Polaris, a protein disrupted in Oak Ridge Polycystic Kidney (orpk) mutant mice is required for assembly of renal cilium. Am J. Physiol (Renal), 282:F541-F552, 2002  11832437 
Wu JH, Billings BH, and Balkovetz DF: Hepatocyte Growth Factor Induced Alteration of Cell Polarity Increases Renal Epithelial Susceptibility to Uropathogenic Escherichia coli. J Am Soc Neph, 12:2543-2552, 2001.  11729222 
Taulman PD, Haycraft CJ , Balkovetz DF, and Yoder BK: Polaris, a protein involved in left-right axis patterning localizes to basal bodies and cilia. Mol. Biol. Cell, 12:589-599, 2000.  11251073 
Katz J, Sambandam V, Wu JH, Michalek SM, and Balkovetz DF: Characterization of Porphyromonas gingivalis-Induced Degradation of Epithelial Cell Junctional Complexes. Infect. Immun. 68(3): 1141-1449, 2000.  10678958 
Balkovetz DF and Sambandam V: Dynamics of E-cadherin and g-catenin Complexes During Dedifferentiation of Polarized MDCK Cells. Kidney Int. 56:910-921, 1999.  10469359 
Balkovetz DF: Evidence that Hepatocyte Growth Factor Abrogates Contact Inhibition of Mitosis in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney Cell Monolayers. Life Sciences 64(16): 1393-1401, 1999.  10321719 
 

Keywords
epithelial cells, claudins, tight junctions, E-cadherin, hepatocyte growth factor, ERK, MDCK