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After completing undergraduate work in Biology at the University of Iowa, Katie George received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1994. She pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in Microbial Pathogenesis at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana from 1994 - 1999. George joined the University of Montana as a post-doctoral fellow in 2000, and was promoted to Research Assistant professor in 2004.
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INTERESTS OF THE GEORGE LABORATORY
Our lab is interested in cellular mechanisms of neurotoxicity caused by organophosphate (OP) pesticides. It is well-known that OP inhibit the enzymatic function of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) the enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (ACh), and our lab focuses on other cellular effects of OP exposure. Current projects in the lab include analysis of cellular signaling mechanisms in response to OP exposure by biochemical and immunofluorescence measurements in neuronal systems. Additionally, we utilize genomic and proteomic approaches to measure global changes in gene and protein expression in OP-exposed neurons.
Another project in the lab focuses on non-cholinergic functions of AChE. AChE is considered primarily expressed in cholinergic neurons; however, AChE is expressed at high levels in many other cell types, and research is on-going to characterize the structure and function of AChE in these cell types.
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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Thullbery, M.D., Cox, H.D., Schule, T., Thompson, C.M., and K.M. George. "Differential localization of acetylcholinesterase in neuronal and non-neuronal cells." Submitted to J. Cell. Biochem.
Spaulding, R.S., George, K.M., and C.M. Thompson. "Analysis and sequencing of native and organophosphate-inactivated acetylcholinesterase by electrospray ionization, quadrupole/time-of-flight (QTOF) mass spectrometry." Submitted to J. Chromatography
George, K.M., Schule, T., Sandoval, L.E., Jennings, L.L., Taylor, P., and Thompson, C.M. "Differentiation between acetylcholinesterase and the organophosphate-inhibited form using antibodies and the correlation of antibody recognition with reactivation mechanism and rate." J. Biol. Chem. 278:45512-8. 2003
George, K.M., Montgomery, M.A., Sandoval, L.E. and Thompson, C.M. "Analysis of cross-antigenicity between acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase with anti-acetylcholinesterase antibodies." Toxicology Letters. 126: 99-105. 2001
George, K.M., Pascopella, L. Welty, D.M. and P.L.C. Small. "Mycobacterium ulcerans toxin, mycolactone, causes apoptosis in guinea pig lesions and in tissue culture cells." Infection and Immunity. 68: 877-883. 2000.
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