Tameka A. Clemons

Last updated
Tameka A. Clemons
NationalityAfrican American
Alma mater Meharry Medical College
Known forUPC2 and amylin signaling in diabetes and neurodegeneration
AwardsCellPress 100 Inspiring Black scientists in America, Research Initiation Award National Science Foundation, Inaugural Recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Institutions Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine University of Houston

Tameka A. Clemons is an African American biochemist at Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Clemons holds the title of Clinical Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Her research focuses on exploring the link between Type II diabetes and Alzheimer's disease by analyzing the aberrant biochemical signaling networks in pancreatic beta-cells and neuronal cells that leads to cell death in Type II diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease. Clemons was one of the inaugural recipients of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program Fellowship and in 2020, she was named one of the top 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America by CellPress.

Contents

Early life and education

In 1998, Clemons pursued her graduate training in biochemistry at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. [1] Clemons studied in the department of biochemistry under the mentorship of Oksoon H. Choi. [1] In 1999, she was one of 22 scholars to receive the inaugural Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program Fellowship and become a Sloan Fellow. [2] From 2000 to 2002, Clemons successfully received the National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award each year, as a part of the Minority Predoctoral Fellowship Program. [3] During her PhD, Clemons explored the mechanisms by which IgE stimulation leads to calcium influx in mast cells and release of cytokines that result in allergy symptoms. [3] She hypothesized that membrane associated sphingosine kinase (SK) signalling, leading to downstream sphingosine 1-phosphate release in the endoplasmic reticulum) is responsible for calcium mobilization in mast cells, in addition to the IP3 mediated mechanisms that had been already discovered. [3] Clemons and her team at Meharry found that both IP3 and SK signalling are required for calcium mobilization after antigen binding to mast cells and they also found that SK signalling alone would not be sufficient to mobilize calcium. [4] Clemons thesis was titled "Effects of sphingosine 1-phosphate in FcεRI-mediated Ca2+ response". [1] Clemons completed her PhD studies in 2003. [1]

Career and research

In 2004, while living in metro Atlanta, Georgia she founded the Clayton/Henry county chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated. [5] In 2015, Clemons became an assistant professor of biochemistry in the department of biomedical sciences at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. [6] Clemons collaborated with Luis H. Toledo-Pereyra at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, to publish a manuscript on the effects of hydroxyl radicals after ischemia perfusion. [7] Dr. Clemons worked here for one year before becoming an assistant professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. [8] While at Spelman, Clemons taught many undergraduate classes, including general chemistry, biochemistry, undergraduate research in chemistry, and advanced biochemistry. [9]

In 2020, Clemons was recruited back to her alma mater, Meharry Medical College, as an assistant professor of biochemistry.  [10]

In 2023, Clemons accepted a position at Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at University of Houston.

Clemons is actively involved in education and mentorship. In 2018, as a principal investigator at Spelman College, Clemons was a part of the NASA Technology Infusion Road Tour for historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. [11] From 2019-2022, she has been a speaker at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (AMBRCMS) on the topic of “Post Baccalaureate Programs, Tips for Submitting a Successful Application, and Advice on Taking a Gap Year”. [12] and in 2022 she was invited as the University of Michigan Cellular & Molecular Biology (CMB) program annual retreat keynote speaker. Clemons is also an associate member of the Georgia State University Center for Neuroinflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases. [13]

Beta-cell dysfunction

Clemons investigates the aberrant biochemical signaling pathways that result in beta-cell death in Type 2 Diabetes. [14] She seeks to understand how amylin and uncoupling protein 2 (UPC2) function in both health and disease. [15] By investigating the role of UPC2, known to suppress the impact of free radicals, on amylin function, Clemons will uncover how beta-cell death might be prevented. [14] This work extends to the field of neurodegeneration, as Clemons also hopes to explore how UCP2 could be used to control the functions of amylin in neurons to prevent degeneration. [16]

Awards and honors

Select publications

Related Research Articles

Inositol trisphosphate or inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate abbreviated InsP3 or Ins3P or IP3 is an inositol phosphate signaling molecule. It is made by hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), a phospholipid that is located in the plasma membrane, by phospholipase C (PLC). Together with diacylglycerol (DAG), IP3 is a second messenger molecule used in signal transduction in biological cells. While DAG stays inside the membrane, IP3 is soluble and diffuses through the cell, where it binds to its receptor, which is a calcium channel located in the endoplasmic reticulum. When IP3 binds its receptor, calcium is released into the cytosol, thereby activating various calcium regulated intracellular signals.

Beta cells (β-cells) are a type of cell found in pancreatic islets that synthesize and secrete insulin and amylin. Beta cells make up 50–70% of the cells in human islets. In patients with Type 1 diabetes, beta-cell mass and function are diminished, leading to insufficient insulin secretion and hyperglycemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meharry Medical College</span> American medical school

Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first medical school for African Americans in the South. This region had the highest proportion of this ethnicity, but they were excluded from many public and private segregated institutions of higher education, particularly after the end of Reconstruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucagon</span> Peptide hormone

Glucagon is a peptide hormone, produced by alpha cells of the pancreas. It raises the concentration of glucose and fatty acids in the bloodstream and is considered to be the main catabolic hormone of the body. It is also used as a medication to treat a number of health conditions. Its effect is opposite to that of insulin, which lowers extracellular glucose. It is produced from proglucagon, encoded by the GCG gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Satcher</span> American physician and public health administrator

David Satcher, is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amylin</span> Peptide hormone that plays a role in glycemic regulation

Amylin, or islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), is a 37-residue peptide hormone. It is co-secreted with insulin from the pancreatic β-cells in the ratio of approximately 100:1 (insulin:amylin). Amylin plays a role in glycemic regulation by slowing gastric emptying and promoting satiety, thereby preventing post-prandial spikes in blood glucose levels.

Molecular neuroscience is a branch of neuroscience that observes concepts in molecular biology applied to the nervous systems of animals. The scope of this subject covers topics such as molecular neuroanatomy, mechanisms of molecular signaling in the nervous system, the effects of genetics and epigenetics on neuronal development, and the molecular basis for neuroplasticity and neurodegenerative diseases. As with molecular biology, molecular neuroscience is a relatively new field that is considerably dynamic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lipid signaling</span> Biological signaling using lipid molecules

Lipid signaling, broadly defined, refers to any biological signaling event involving a lipid messenger that binds a protein target, such as a receptor, kinase or phosphatase, which in turn mediate the effects of these lipids on specific cellular responses. Lipid signaling is thought to be qualitatively different from other classical signaling paradigms because lipids can freely diffuse through membranes. One consequence of this is that lipid messengers cannot be stored in vesicles prior to release and so are often biosynthesized "on demand" at their intended site of action. As such, many lipid signaling molecules cannot circulate freely in solution but, rather, exist bound to special carrier proteins in serum.

The biochemistry of Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia, is not yet very well understood. Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been identified as a proteopathy: a protein misfolding disease due to the accumulation of abnormally folded amyloid beta (Aβ) protein in the brain. Amyloid beta is a short peptide that is an abnormal proteolytic byproduct of the transmembrane protein amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP), whose function is unclear but thought to be involved in neuronal development. The presenilins are components of proteolytic complex involved in APP processing and degradation.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a signaling sphingolipid, also known as lysosphingolipid. It is also referred to as a bioactive lipid mediator. Sphingolipids at large form a class of lipids characterized by a particular aliphatic aminoalcohol, which is sphingosine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GPR3</span> Protein

G-protein coupled receptor 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GPR3 gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor family of transmembrane receptors and is involved in signal transduction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PLCD3</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

1-Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate phosphodiesterase delta-3 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PLCD3 gene.

Sarah Spiegel is professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). In the mid-1990s she discovered the sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) molecule, a lipid which has been identified as a signaler for the spread of cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. Her research continues to focus on S1P.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark A. Lemmon</span> English biochemist (born 1964)

Mark Andrew Lemmon an English-born biochemist, is the Alfred Gilman Professor of Pharmacology at Yale University where he also directs the Cancer Biology Institute.

The ion channel hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), also known as the channel hypothesis or the amyloid beta ion channel hypothesis, is a more recent variant of the amyloid hypothesis of AD, which identifies amyloid beta (Aβ) as the underlying cause of neurotoxicity seen in AD. While the traditional formulation of the amyloid hypothesis pinpoints insoluble, fibrillar aggregates of Aβ as the basis of disruption of calcium ion homeostasis and subsequent apoptosis in AD, the ion channel hypothesis in 1993 introduced the possibility of an ion-channel-forming oligomer of soluble, non-fibrillar Aβ as the cytotoxic species allowing unregulated calcium influx into neurons in AD.

Marion Sewer (1972-2016) was a pharmacologist and professor at the University of California, San Diego's Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences known for her research on steroid hormone biogenesis and her commitment to increasing diversity in science. Much of her research centered around cytochrome P450, a family of enzymes involved in the conversion of cholesterol into steroid hormones. She died unexpectedly at the age of 43 from a pulmonary embolism on January 28, 2016, while traveling through the Detroit airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urtė Neniškytė</span> Lithuanian neuroscientist (b. 1983)

Urtė Neniškytė is a Lithuanian neuroscientist. Her scientific interest and main area of work relates to the interaction of neurons and immune cells in the brain. She has studied the cellular mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease and is the co-author of the first articles about cell death in relation to phagocytosis.

William "Bil" Clemons, Jr. is an American structural biologist and Professor of Biochemistry at Caltech. He is best known for his work solving the atomic structure of the ribosome with dissertation advisor, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Venki Ramakrishnan. He is also known for his work on the structure and function of proteins involved in membrane translocation and docking of proteins, including the membrane protein translocation channel SecY, chaperones involved in the targeting of tail-anchored membrane proteins in the Get pathway, and signal recognition proteins of the Twin-arginine translocation pathway. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.

Yusuf A. Hannun is an American molecular biologist, biochemist, and clinician. He is known for the discovery that sphingolipids have signaling functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajini Rao</span> American physiologist

Rajini Rao is an American physiologist who is a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Rao is also the director of the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and is the principal investigator of the Rao Lab. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Rao discovers novel ion channels and explores their roles in human health and disease. The Rao Lab identified the oncogenic role of SPCA2 in breast cancer through an aberrant method of signalling to calcium channels.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Curriculum Vitae for Academic Promotion Oksoon H. Choi" (PDF). hopkinsmedicine.org. Retrieved June 24, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 "Investing in Future Faculty" (PDF). sreb.org. 2005. Retrieved June 24, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mitchell-Clemons, Tameka. "Minority Predoctoral Fellowship Program".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 Lee, Hyun-Sil; Park, Chang-Shin; Lee, Young Mi; Suk, Ho Young; Clemons, Tameka C. M.; Choi, Oksoon Hong (December 2005). "Antigen-induced Ca2+ mobilization in RBL-2H3 cells: role of I(1,4,5)P3 and S1P and necessity of I(1,4,5)P3 production". Cell Calcium. 38 (6): 581–592. doi:10.1016/j.ceca.2005.08.002. ISSN   0143-4160. PMID   16219349.
  5. ↑ "Chapter History – Psi Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc". www.psialphaomega.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  6. ↑ "WMed Newsletter 2015" (PDF). med.wmich.edu. 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ Clemons, Tameka A.; Toledo-Pereyra, Luis H. (2015-11-02). "Hexokinase: A Glycolytic Enzyme with an Inflammatory Ischemia and Reperfusion Connection". Journal of Investigative Surgery. 28 (6): 301–302. doi: 10.3109/08941939.2015.1121674 . ISSN   0894-1939. PMID   26654433.
  8. ↑ "Biochemistry Professor Receives $300,000 Award to Study Cells Involved in Alzheimer's Disease and Diabetes". www.spelman.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  9. ↑ "Tameka Clemons at Spelman College | Coursicle Spelman". www.coursicle.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  10. ↑ "Basic Sciences Faculty". Meharry Medical College. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  11. ↑ "NASA technology infusion road tour" (PDF). osbp.nasa.gov. 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "ABRCMS 2019" (PDF). abrcms,org. 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "Associate Members". Center for Neuroinflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  14. 1 2 "Biochemistry Professor Receives $300,000 Award to Study Cells Involved in Alzheimer's Disease and Diabetes". www.spelman.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  15. ↑ "Research Initiation Award: Probing inter-compartmental cross-talk between redox and amylin signaling networks". The eScience Diversity Network. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  16. ↑ "STEM Central | Projects | Research Initiation Award: Probing inter-compartmental cross-talk between redox and amylin signaling networks". stem-central.net. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  17. ↑ Hinton, Antentor O. Jr. "100 inspiring Black scientists in America". crosstalk.cell.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  18. ↑ "New program develops careers in academia". ASCB. 2019-08-08. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  19. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1801091 - Research Initiation Award: Probing inter-compartmental cross-talk between redox and amylin signaling networks". nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  20. ↑ "Clemons TA - Search Results". PubMed. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.