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Mervyn J. Monteiro, PhD

Academic Title:

Professor

Primary Appointment:

Neurobiology

Secondary Appointment(s):

BioChemistry&Molecular Biology, Neurology

Location:

406 Howard Hall, 660 West Redwood Street

Phone (Primary):

(410) 706-8132

Fax:

(410) 706-8184

Education and Training

I was born in Mombasa, Kenya, where I completed my high school education. I then moved to England and graduated from Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, obtaining a BSc degree with 1st class honors in Microbiology and a Ph.D. from the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), which is now part of The Francis Crick Institute. I then conducted postdoctoral studies at NIMR and then moved to the USA, where I trained with Dr. Don Cleveland, then at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. In 1989, I obtained a faculty position at the Medical Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, which in 2010, was incorporated into the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Biosketch

1979  BSc Microbiology (1st Class Honors), Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, England

1983  PhD Microbiology and Molecular Biology, National Institute for Medical Research (MRC), Mill Hill, London

1983-1986 Post-Doc Molecular Biology, National Institute for Medical Research (MRC), Mill Hill, London

1986-1989 Post-Doc Molecular Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

1989-1996 Assistant Professor, Medical Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

1996-2002 Associate Professor, Medical Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

2002-2010 Professor, Medical Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

2010-  Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Research/Clinical Keywords

Neurodegenerative diseases, ALS, FTD, Alzheimer's disease, protein misfolding, ubiquilin, proteasome, autophagy

Highlighted Publications

Fuller PE, Collis VL, Sharma P, Burkett A, Wang S, Brown KA, Weir N, Goulbourne CN, Nixon RA, Longden TA, Gould TD and Monteiro MJ. (2024) Pathophysiologic abnormalities in transgenic mice carrying the Alzheimer disease PSEN1 D440 mutation. Hum Mol Genet, ddae139. 

Le NT, Chu N, Joshi G, Higgins NR, Nebie O, Adelakun N, Butts M, Monteiro MJ. Prion Protein Pathology in Ubiquilin 2 Models of ALS. (2024) Neurobiology of Disease. 201, 106674.

Phung TH, Tatman M, and Monteiro MJ. (2023) UBQLN2 undergoes a reversible temperature-induced conformational switch that regulates binding with HSPA1B: ALS/FTD mutations cripple the switch but do not destroy HSPA1B binding. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 1867:130284

Lin BC, Phung TH, Higgins NR, Greenslade JE, Prado MA, Finley D, Karbowski M, Polster, BM and Monteiro MJ. (2021) ALS/FTD mutations in UBQLN2 are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction through loss-of-function in mitochondrial protein import. Hum Mol Genet, 30:1230-1246.

Wang S, Tatman M, and Monteiro, MJ. (2020) Overexpression of UBQLN1 reduces neuropathology in the P497S UBQLN2 mouse model of ALS/FTD. Acta Neuropathologica Communications 8:164, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-020-01039-9.

Wu JJ,  Cai A, Greenslade JE, Higgins NR, Fan C, Le NTT, Tatman MD, Whiteley AA, Prado MA, Dieriks BV, Curtis MA, Shaw CE, Siddique T, Faull RLM, Scotter EL, Finley D, and Monteiro MJ. (2020) ALS/FTD mutations in UBQLN2 impede autophagy by reducing autophagosome acidification through loss of function. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 117: 15230-41.

Le NTT, Chang L, Kovlyagina I, Georgiou P, Safren N, Braunstein KE, Kvarta MD, Van Dyke AM, LeGates TA, Philips T, Morrison BM, Thompson SM, Puche AC, Gould TD, Rothstein JD, Wong PC  and Monteiro MJ. (2016) Motor neuron disease, TDP-43 pathology, and memory deficits in mice expressing ALS-FTD-linked UBQLN2 mutations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 113:E7580-89.

Chang L and Monteiro MJ. (2015) Defective proteasome delivery of polyubiquitinated proteins by ubiquilin-2 proteins containing ALS mutations. PLoS One. 10(6) e0130162.

Safren N, El AyadiA, ChangL, Terrillion CE, Gould TD, Boehning DF, and Monteiro MJ. (2014) Ubiquilin-1 overexpression increases the lifespan and delays accumulation of huntingtin aggregates in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington’s disease. PLoS One 9(1). e87513.

Wang H, Lim PJ, Karbowski M and Monteiro MJ (2009) Effects of overexpression of huntingtin proteins on mitochondrial integrity. Hum Mol Genet, 18:737-752.

Rothenberg C, Srinivasan D, Mah L, Kaushik S, Peterhoff CM, Ugolino J, Fang S, Cuervo AM, Nixon RA and Monteiro MJ (2010) Ubiquilin functions in autophagy and is degraded by chaperone-mediated autophagy. Hum Mol Genet, 19:3219-3232. (Journal Cover)

Lim PJ, Danner R, Liang J, Doong H, Harman C, Srinivasan D, Rothenberg C, Wang H, Ye Y, Fang S and Monteiro MJ (2009) Ubiquilin and p97/VCP bind erasin, forming a complex involved in ERAD. J Cell Biol, 187:201-217.

Wang H, Lim PJ, Yin C, Rieckher M, Vogel BE and Monteiro MJ (2006) Suppression of polyglutamine-induced toxicity in cell and animal models of Huntington's disease by ubiquilin. Hum Mol Genet, 15:1025-1041.

Mah AL, Perry G, Smith MA and Monteiro MJ (2000) Identification of ubiquilin, a novel presenilin interactor that increases presenilin protein accumulation. J Cell Biol, 151:847-862.

Additional Publication Citations

Research Interests

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