Jeannette M. Zinggeler

Year Entered: 2003

Degrees Received: 
B.S., Genetics and Cell Biology, U of MN, 1999
M.P.H., Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University, 2001

Honors and Awards:
NIH/NIDA National Research Service Award for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD Fellows, 2006-2010

Thesis Advisor: Sharon Murphy, Ph.D., Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics Graduate Program

Thesis Research: 

Jeannette is broadly interested in mechanisms of carcinogenesis. She is studying the role of cytochrome P450 enzymes and UDP-gluroronosyltransferases in the metabolism of nitrosamines in tobacco products. Nitrosamines that are substrates for these enzyme classes have various fates, ranging from excretion from the body as harmless metabolites to activation by P450 enzymes into potent carcinogens. Tissue specific metabolism and polymorphisms in enzymes contribute to variation in metabolic outcomes. Goals of studying this activation/detoxification system are to understand more specifically early events in carcinogenesis, to gain insights about the role of inhibitors of activating pathways as a strategy for cancer reduction, and to inspire strategies to reduce exposure to nitrosamines implicated in tumorigenesis. 

Publciations:

Schlicht KE*, Zinggeler Berg J*,  Murphy SE. Effect of CYP2A13 active site mutation Asn297Ala on metabolism of coumarin and tobacco-specific nitrosamines. Drug Metabo Dispos., in press. *co-first author

Hecht SS, Zinggeler Berg J, Hochalter JB. Preferential glutathione conjugation of a reverse diol epoxide compared to a bay region diol epoxide of phenanthrene in human hepatocytes: Relevance to molecular epidemiologystudies of glutathione-S-rransferase polymorphisms and cancer. Chem Res Toxicol., in press.