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Education

Faculty

Dr. Douglas Coffin

Dr. Doug Coffin Professor
Phone: (406) 243-4723
Email: douglas.coffin@umontana.edu







Doug Coffin, Ph.D., was hired as an Associate Professor for Molecular Genetics in the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences. Doug comes to Missoula from the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls where he was a Research Scientist for the last five years. He is a graduate of SUNY College at Buffalo (B.A., M.A., 1985) and the SUNY HSC at Syracuse (Ph.D., 1989). After receiving his Ph.D., Doug worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington and the University of Cincinnati before coming to Montana.

Research Statement

Most major pathologies include a problem with angiogenesis as a component or secondary complication. Angiogenesis, a.k.a. "neovascularization" for new growth of blood vessels is involved in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and birth defects. There are a variety of molecules that regulate angiogenesis including growth factors, hormones, and metabolites. In most cases, research attempts to fundamentally understand these regulatory processes with the ultimate goal of either inhibiting or facilitating angiogenesis, depending on the pathology. For example, in cancer the goal is to inhibit angiogenesis, depriving a malignant tumor the means to obtain nutrients and dispose of nitrogenous wastes. In heart disease the goal is to facilitate angiogenesis, enhancing growth of collateral coronary arteries as the established vessels close from atherosclerosis.

The Coffin lab focuses on the structure and function of angiogenic growth factor genes, particularly the FGFs, in cardiovascular disease and other pathologies. Their approach uses transgenesis and gene targeting to create murine models and test gene function. They have succeeded in making transgenic and knockout mice for FGF-2, and mice with modifications in other cell cycle/cell proliferation genes that model tumor angiogenesis, coronary angiogenesis and human dwarfisms. Overall they have over 500 mice and more than 10 different lines of transgenic or knockout mice for their experiments.

Recent Publications

Sabbieti MG, Agas D, Xiao L, Marchetti L, Coffin JD, Doetschman T, Hurley MM. (2009) Endogenous FGF-2 is critically important in PTH anabolic effects on bone. J Cell Physiol. 2009 Apr;219(1):143-51. PMCID: PMC JOURNAL - In Process

Xiao L, Liu P, Li X, Doetschman T, Coffin JD, Drissi H, Hurley MM. Exported 18-kDa isoform of fibroblast growth factor-2 is a critical determinant of bone mass in mice. J Biol Chem. 2009 Jan 30;284(5):3170-82. Epub 2008 Dec 4. PMCID: PMC2631953.

Zucchini, S., Buzzi, A., Barbieri, M., Rodi, D., Paradiso, B., Binaschi, A., Coffin, J.D., Marzola, A., Cifelli, P., Belluzzi, O., Simonato, M. (2008) FGF-2 overexpression increases excitability and seizure susceptibility but decreases seizure-induced cell loss. J. Neuroscience 2008 Dec 3;28(49):13112-24. PMCID: PMC JOURNAL - In Process

Naganawa, T., Xiao, L., Coffin, J.D., Doetschman, T., Sabbieti, M.G., Agas, D. and Hurley, M.M. (2008). Reduced expression and function of bone morphogenetic protein-2 in bones of Fgf2 null mice. J Cell Biochem. 103(6): 1975-88. PMID: 17955502.