Professor Robert J. Shmookler Reis
Robert J.
Shmookler Reis, D.Phil. is
Professor, Departments of Geriatrics, Biochemistry/Molecular Biology,
and Pharmacology/Toxicology and is
Research Career Scientist, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare Service,
McClellan Veterans Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Robert’s has focused on the molecular genetics of longevity and
age-associated diseases, using both previously defined mutations and
gene mapping. He was trained in Drosophila and mammalian genetics,
adding C. elegans in 1989 as a model system in which to develop
gene
mapping methods to begin to characterize genes that modulate longevity.
He was a pioneer in this area, mapping over 27 highly-significant loci
for lifespan, resistance to oxidative stresses, and Darwinian fitness.
In mammalian genetics, his team was the first to identify the Pirin gene on
the X chromosome as a determinant of post-menopausal bone loss in women,
a discovery that was recently confirmed in a Chinese
population.
Robert also has a long-standing research program on the role of
homologous
recombination in the early etiology and subsequent progression of
myeloma, prostate, and breast cancers. He was the first to note
that cells from many different cancer types feature very high levels of
homologous recombination, and high expression of the Rad51 recombinase
complex that mediates it. He is now working to
understand how that
contributes to cancer progression, and how we might prevent new
recombinations that lead to relapses in which cancers develop resistance
to treatments that initially appeared to be succeeding.
His papers include
Remarkable longevity and stress resistance of nematode
PI3K-null mutants,
Variability of DNA methylation patterns during serial passage of
human diploid fibroblasts,
Telomerase inhibition and cell growth arrest by G-quadruplex
interactive
agent in multiple myeloma,
Interclonal variation in methylation patterns for expressed and
non-expressed genes,
Genetic Loci Modulating Fitness and Life Span in Caenorhabditis
elegans:
Categorical Trait Interval Mapping in CL2a x Bergerac-BO
Recombinant-Inbred Worms, and
Diverse Gene Sequences Are Overexpressed in Werner Syndrome
Fibroblasts Undergoing Premature Replicative Senescence.
Robert earned his B.A. in Harvard University, USA and his D.Phil. at the
University of Sussex, UK.
Read
Reis Accepts Highest UAMS Honor; Udupa Reflects on Journey.