Allison L. Berrier, PhD - LSUHSC School of Medicine

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	Allison L. Berrier, PhD Department of Oral and Craniofacial Biology LSUHSC School of Dentistry 1100 Florida Avenue Room 8301 New Orleans, LA 70119 Fax: 504-941-8629
Degrees	Lafayette College, Easton, PA B.S. Chemistry Columbia University, NY, NY Ph.D. Microbiology
Bio	Allison L Berrier received her BS in Chemistry from Lafayette College in 1990. She earned her doctoral degree in Microbiology from Columbia University in 1998 studying mechanisms involved in regulating gene expression in the immune system. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Albany Medical College in the laboratory of Dr. LaFlamme studying the role of the integrin b-tail in regulating cellular behavior, she became a research associate while at Albany. In 2004, she joined the LSU Health Sciences Center’s School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy. Shortly thereafter, she joined the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium and was named a Distinguished Faculty Member of the LSUHSC-NO School of Dentistry, Center of Excellence in Oral and Craniofacial Biology. After Hurricane Katrina, she worked on cell-matrix biology in the laboratory of Dr. Yamada at NIDCR/NIH as a Katrina Visiting Faculty Scholar sponsored by NCMHD/NIH. Dr. Berrier joined the School of Dentistry as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral and Craniofacial Biology with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 2008.
Research Interests	In the year 2000, oral cancer was the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer among African-american males. Roughly 30,000 cases are newly diagnosed in the entire US population per year. The detection of oral cancer at advanced stages, the high frequency of oral tumor metastasis and the frequent resistance to radiation therapy each contribute to a poor 5-year survival rate. Among oral cancer patients, 90% of the cases are squamous carcinomas. Currently, the molecular and cellular events that induce conversion from normal oral epithelial to invasive oral squamous carcinoma are not completely understood. My laboratory focuses on how cellular interactions with the extracellular matrix (ECM) control the behavior of oral cancer cells. Integrin receptors are cell surface receptors that bind to the ECM and bi-directionally transmit signals across the cell membrane to coordinately regulate intracellular signaling, cellular behavior and the properties of the extracellular matrix. Our studies aim to understand how integrin receptors and the tumor microenvironment each regulate oral tumor cell migration, invasion, matrix remodeling and tumor cell survival. Knowledge gained from these studies may aid in development of novel therapeutic strategies to prevent oral cancer metastasis.
Selected Publications	Husic, DH, S Hsieh, AL Berrier. Effect of dithiothreitol on the catalytic activity, quaternary structure and sulfonamide-binding properties of an extracellular carbonic anhydrase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 1078:35-42, 1991. Cooper, CL, AL Berrier, C Roman, and KL Calame. Limited expression of C/EBP family proteins during B-lymphocyte development: negative regulator Ig/EBP predominates early and activator NF-IL6 is induced later. J. Immunol. 153: 5049-58, 1994. Berrier, AL, G Siu, and KL Calame. Transcription of a minimal promoter from the NF-IL6 gene is regulated by CREB/ATF and Sp1 proteins in U937 promonocytic cells. J. Immunol. 161:2267-75, 1998. Berrier, AL, AM Mastrangelo, J Downward, A Toker, M Ginsberg and SE LaFlamme. Activated R-Ras, Rac1, PI 3-kinase, and PKCe can each restore cell spreading inhibited by isolated integrin b1 cytoplasmic domains. J. Cell Biol. 151: 1549-1560, 2000. Bodeau, AL, AL Berrier, AM Mastrangelo, R Martinez and SE LaFlamme. A Functional comparison of mutations in integrin b1,3 cytoplasmic domains: Effects on the regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation, cell spreading, cell attachment and b1 integrin conformation. J. Cell Sci. 114: 2795-2807, 2001. Berrier, AL, R Martinez, GM Bokoch, and SE LaFlamme. The integrin b tail is required and sufficient to regulate adhesion signaling to Rac1. J. Cell. Sci. 115:4285-4291, 2002. Berrier, AL, Yamada, KM. Mini-Review. Cell-Matrix Adhesion. J Cell. Physiol. 213:565-573, 2007. Berrier, AL, CW Jones, SE LaFlamme. Tac-b1 inhibits FAK activation and Src signaling. Biochem Biophys Res Comm, 368:62-67, 2008. Green, JA, AL Berrier, R Pankov, KM Yamada. b1 integrin cytoplasmic domain residues selectively modulate fibronectin matrix assembly and cell spreading by differentially regulating Talin and AKT. Submitted to Journal of Biological Chemistry.