Bishr Omary, MD, PhD

Special Advisor on Research to the Dean
Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology
H Marvin Pollard Professor of Gastroenterology
Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology

7708B Medical Science II
1137 E. Catherine St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5622

mbishr@umich.edu
(734) 764-9283

Areas of Interest

My laboratory has worked on intermediate filament proteins since 1989, and our work focuses on understanding the disease association, function and regulation of keratins and lamins in digestive organs. A related relevant area of focus is drug screening to identify potential compound that may have therapeutic benefit for the more than 70 intermediate filament associated diseases for which directed therapies are completely lacking. Two other major areas we are involved with are aimed at defining biomarkers for acute and chronic liver and pancreatic diseases, and pursuing molecular understanding of porphyria pathogenesis and related therapeutic approaches.

Selected Publications:

A. Original Manuscripts:

•Ku NO, Toivola DM Pavel Strnad P, Omary MB. (2010). Cytoskeletal keratin glycosylation protects epithelial tissue from injury. Nature Cell Biol12:876-885.

•Habtezion A, Toivola DM, Asghar MN, Kronmal GS, Brooks JD, Butcher EC, Omary MB. (2011). Absence of keratin 8 confers a paradoxical microflora-dependent resistance to apoptosis in the colon. Proc Natl Acad Sci 108:1445-1450.

•Singla A, Moons DS, Snider NT, Wagenmaker ER, Jayasundera VB, Omary MB. (2012). Oxidative stress, Nrf2 and keratin upregulation associate with Mallory-Denk body formation in mouse erythropoietic protoporphyria. Hepatology 56:322-331.

•Snider NT, Leonard JM, Kwan R, Griggs NW, Rui L, Omary MB. (2013). Glucose and SIRT2 reciprocally mediate the regulation of keratin 8 by lysine acetylation. J Cell Biol 200:241-247.

•Maitra D, Elenbaas JS, Whitesall SE, D’Alecy LG, Basrur V, Omary MB. (2015). Ambient light promotes selective subcellular proteotoxicity after endogenous and exogenous porphyrinogenic stress. J Biol Chem 290:23711-23724.

•Elenbaas JS, Maitra D, Liu Y, Lentz SI, Nelson B, Hoenerhoff MJ, Shavit JA, Omary MB. (2016). A precursor-inducible zebrafish model of acute protoporphyria with hepatic protein aggregation and multi-organelle stress. FASEB J 30:1798-1810.

•Brady GF, Kwan R, Ulintz PJ, Nguyen P, Bassirian S, Basrur V, Nesvizhskii A, Loomba R, Omary MB. (2018). Nuclear lamina genetic variants, including a truncated LAP2, in a cohort of twin and sibling pairs with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology 67:1710-1725.

•Park MJ, Iyer S, Xue X, Cunha JB, Gu S, Moons D, Pipe SW, Williams JA, Simeone DM, Shah YM, Omary MB. (2018). Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α regulates normal acinar cell function and injury response in mouse pancreas. Gastroenterology 154:1630-1634.

 

B. Reviews:

•Omary MB, Coulombe PA and McLean WHI (2004). Intermediate filament proteins and their associated diseases. N Engl J Med 351:2087-100.

•Snider NT, Omary MB. (2014). Post-translational modifications of intermediate filament proteins: mechanisms and functions. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 15:163-177.

•Ku NO, Strnad P, Bantel H, Omary MB. (2016). Keratins: Biomarkers and modulators of apoptotic and necrotic cell death in the liver. Hepatology 64:966-976.

•Brady GF, Kwan R, Cunha JB, Elenbaas JS, Omary MB. (2018). Lamins and lamin-associated proteins in gastrointestinal health and disease. Gastroenterology 154:1602-1619

Credentials

Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1980
M.D., University of Miami, 1984