Paul C. Leavis, PhD

Scholarly, Research, and/or Practice Interests

• Peptide inhibitors of leptin signaling in normal and abnormal cellular function, protein and peptide chemistry

Selected Publications

Tao, T., Gong, B.L. and Leavis, P.C., Troponin I as a molecular switch in skeletal muscle regulation, Science, 247; 1339-1340, 1990.

Coppin, C.M. and Leavis, P.C., Quantitation of liquid crystalline ordering in F-actin solutions, Biophys. J. 63; 794-807, 1992

Wu, Q.-L., Raychowdhurey, M.K., Du, Y., Jha, P.K., Leavis, P.C. and Sarkar, S., Characterization of a rabbit fast troponin I cDNA: A comparative sequence analysis of vertebrate isoforms and tissue-specific expression of a single copy gene., DNA Sequence-J. DNA Sequencing and Mapping, 4; 113-121, 1993.

Wu, Q-L., Jha, P.K., Raychowdhury, M.K., Du, Y., Leavis, P.C. and Sarkar, S., Isolation and characterization of human fast skeletal  Troponin T cDNA: Comparative sequence analysis of isoforms and insight into the evolution of members of a multigene family, DNA and Cell Biology, 13; 217-233, 1994.

Jha, P.K., Du, Y., Wu, Q.-L., Leavis, P.C. and Sarkar, S., Overexpression and rapid purification of rabbit fast skeletal troponin I from escherichia coli: Effect of different promoters, host strains, and culture conditions, Protein Expression and Purific. 5; 604-613, 1994

Kobayashi, T., Leavis, P.C. and Collins, J.H., Interaction of a troponin I peptide with both domains of troponin C, Biochem. Biophys. Acta. 1294; 25-30 (1996)

Liu, R., Leavis, P.C., Badwey, J.A., In vitro activation of a 60-70 kDa protein kinase from neutrophils by limited proteolysis, Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1295; 89-95 (1996)

Jha, P.K., Leavis, P.C., Sarkar, S., Interaction of delection mutants of TroponinsI and T: COOH-terminal truncation of troponin T abolishes troponin I binding and reduces Ca2+ sensitivity of the reconstituted regulatory system., Biochemistry 35; 16573-16580 (1996)

Roussev, R., Coulam, C.B., Kaider, B.D., Yarkoni, M., Leavis, P.C., Barnea, E.R., Embryonic origin of preimplantation factor (PIF): biological activity and partial characterization., Molec. Human Reprod. 2; 883-887 (1996)

Leinweber BD, Leavis PC, Grabarek Z, Wang C-L, Morgan KG. ERK interaction with actin and the CH domain of actin binding proteins. Biochem. J. 344(1):117-123 (1999).

Taggart, M. J., Leavis, P.C., Feron, O., and Morgan, K. Inhibition of PKC and rhoA translocation in differentiated smooth muscle by a caveolin scaffolding domain peptide, Experimental Cell Res. 258: 72-81 (2000).

Leinweber, B., Parissenti, A. M., Gallant, C., Gangopadhyay, S.S., Kirwan-Rhudes, A., Leavis, P.C., and Morgan, K.M. Regulation of protein kinase C by the cytoskeletal protein calponin., J. Biol. Chem. 275: 40329-40336, 2000.

Gonzalez, R. R. and Leavis, P.C.. Leptin upregulates -3 integrin expression and interleukin-1 upregulates leptin and leptin receptor expression in human endometrial epithelial cell cultures. Endocrine, 16; 21-28, 2001

Uzzo, R. G., Leavis, P.C., Hatch, W., Gabai, V. L., Dulin, N., Zvartau, N. and Kolenko, V. M., Zinc inhibitis nuclear factor-kappabeta activation and sensitizes trostate cancer cells to cytotoxic agents, Clinical Cancer Research 8; 3579-3583 (2002)

Gonzalez, R.R., Leary, K., Petrozza, J.C. and Leavis, P.C., Leptin regulation of the interleukin-1 system in human endometrial cells, Molecular Human Reproduction 9;151-158 (2003)

Gonzalez, R. R. and Leavis, P.C., A peptide derived from the human leptin molecule is a potent inhibitor of the leptin receptor function in rabbit endometrial cells, Endocrine 21; 185-195 (2003)

Je, H. D., Gallant, C., Leavis, P.C., Morgan, K. G. Caveolin-1 Regulates Contractility in Differentiated Vascular Smooth Muscle. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 286: H91-H98 (2004).

Gonzalez RR, Rueda BR, Ramos MP, Littell RD, Glasser S, Leavis, P.C., Leptin-induced increase in leukemia inhibitory factor and its receptor by human endometrium is partially mediated by interleukin 1 receptor signaling. Endocrinology. 2004 Aug;145(8):3850-7

Ramos MP, Rueda BR, Leavis, P.C, Gonzalez RR., Leptin serves as an upstream activator of an obligatory signaling cascade in the embryo-implantation process. Endocrinology. 2005 Feb;146(2):694-701

Kim, H.R., Gallant, C., Leavis, P.C., Gunst, S.J. and Morgan, K.G. Cytoskeletal remodeling in differentiated vascular smooth muscle is actin isoform-dependent and stimulus-dependent. Am J Physiol Cell. Accepted for publication.

Current Research Funding

• National Institutes of Health
• National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
• (HL 1PO1HL086655-01A1) Program Project Grant
• Director of Protein Peptide Core Facility
• Principal investigator Kathleen Morgan
• Dynamics of the Vascular Smooth Muscle Cytoskeleton
• Duration: 07/10/2007-07/10/2012
• Cancer Research UK
• Discovery Award: “Optimization of leptin receptor antagonist peptides (LPA) and studies on bioavailability and efficacy in a tumor model”
• Principal Investigator: Paul Leavis
• Duration: 1/1/08-12/31/09

Awards and Honors

• Established Investigator of American Heart Association 1978-1983
• 2000 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching, Tufts Dental School
• Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Studies” 2006, Tufts University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.