 O.
John Semmes, Ph.D.
Scientific Director,
Virginia Prostate Center
Director, George L. Wright, Jr., Center for
Biomedical Proteomics
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular
Cell Biology
Professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomy
Lewis Hall, #314
Office: (757) 446-5904
Email: semmesoj@evms.edu
Teaching: Virology,
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Biomedical Sciences
Program Track:
Molecular Integrative
Biosciences (MIB)
Education
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B.S., Auburn University
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M.S., University of West
Florida
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Ph.D. George Washington
University
-
Postdoctoral Training:
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National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
-
Johns Hopkins
University
Research Interests
Clinical Proteomics
Dr. Semmes directs a
multi-disciplinary team of investigators with the long-term
goal of the development and application of clinical
proteomics techniques to the early detection of cancer. This
program brings together a unique group of individuals with
the experience and expertise needed to achieve the
objectives of biomarker discovery within the existing
national and international collaborative efforts, most
notably the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection
Research Network.
The basic science expertise is
in molecular biology, protein chemistry and cancer biology,
as well as experimental applied mathematics, physical
chemistry and mass spectroscopy. Clinical expertise is in
urological oncology, OB/GYN (breast) oncology, otolaryngeal
oncology and molecular pathology. This team of investigators
forms the basis for Dr. Semmes’ successful translational
research program. In addition, the group includes
biocomputational mathematicians, biostatisticians and
programmers to design and evaluate studies, as well as
develop methodologies to facilitate data processing in the
emerging field of clinical proteomics. These are faculty
members at either EVMS or at our neighboring institution,
the College of William and Mary.
These research activities
benefit from the combined facilities provided by three
specialized centers of excellence: The
Virginia Prostate Center, of
which Dr. Semmes is the scientific director, houses and
supports the VPC Clinical Biorepository and the George L.
Wright Center for Biomedical Proteomics. The biorepository
has been in operation since 1990 and has collected tissue
and body fluids from patients admitted to the
EVMS-associated clinical practices. Since these clinical
facilities represent the major clinical practice for many of
the included specialties in the Hampton Roads area, the
ability to acquire samples is significant.
Dr. Semmes established the
Center for Biomedical Proteomics in 2002 to meet the growing
demands for state-of-the-art proteomics in translational
research; the facility was recognized by EVMS and named in
honor of George L. Wright in 2005. The Applied Research
Center of the Thomas Jefferson Laboratories houses the
William and Mary Research Institute activities and provides
state-of-the-art laser, materials and chemical physics
facilities, and the Applied Mathematics program at William
and Mary provides computational expertise in
high-dimensional data analysis and associated networking
support. Each of these specialized facilities contributes
significantly toward an outstanding research environment.
Cancers Arising from
Infectious Agents
Infection with Human T-cell
leukemia Virus (HTLV-1) leads to development of a
particularly aggressive T-cell lymphoproliferative disease,
Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). HTLV-1 is the only known
transforming retrovirus. However, unlike the case with other
known transforming retroviruses, ATL does not arise from
viral introduction of an oncogene or insertional activation
of an endogenous proto-oncogene. The objective of our
studies is to understand the mechanisms by which HTLV-1
causes ATL. We are particularly focusing on the viral
transactivator Tax, a 40kD protein required for efficient
transcription of the viral genome, and for activating and
repressing a variety of cellular genes involved in control
of cell growth.
Selected Publications
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Schwegler EE, Cazares L,
Steel LF, Adam BL, Johnson DA, Semmes OJ, Block
TM, Marrero JA and Drake RR. (2005) SELDI-TOF MS
Profiling of Serum for Detection of the Progression of
Chronic Hepatitis C to Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Hepatology
41(3):634-642.
Abstract
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Malyarenko DI, Chen H,
Wilkerson AL, Tracy ER, Cooke WE, Manos DM, Sasinowski M
and Semmes OJ. (2005) Preprocessing of Mass
Spectral Data to Improve Linear Range. Clinical
Chemistry 51(1):65-74.
Abstract
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Drake RR, Cazares LH,
Semmes OJ, and Wadsworth JT. (2005) Serum, salivary
and tissue proteomics for discovery of biomarkers for
head and neck cancers. Expert Reviews Molecular
Diagnostics 5(1):93-100.
Abstract
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Semmes OJ, and EPSIC
members. (2005) SELDI profiling of serum for detection
of PCA; Evaluation of platform reproducibility. Clinical
Chemistry 51(1):102-112.
Abstract
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Malik G, Ward M, Adam B-L,
Grizzle WM, Diaz J and Semmes OJ. (2005)
Over-expression of Apo A2 in serum as a diagnostic
marker for PCA. Clin. Cancer Res. 2005 11: 1073-1085
Abstract
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Gupta SK, Forgacs E, Burton
M, Kerry J and
Semmes OJ. (2005) ATF5 directly interacts with Tax
and the Tax Responsive Element and represses Tax
transactivation. Journal of Virology
Abstract
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Semmes OJ, Cazares L,
Ward MD, Maloney E, Hisada M, Gygi S, Wright GL, and
Jacobson S. (2005) Discrete protein signatures
discriminate between adult T-cell leukemia and
HTLV-1-associated myelopathy. Leukemia 19:1229-1238.
Abstract
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Semmes OJ. (2004)
Defining the role of mass spectrometry in cancer
diagnostics. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarker and
Prevention 13(10):1555-1557.
Abstract
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Becker S, Cazares LH, Watson
P, Lynch H,
Semmes OJ, Drake RR, and Laronga C. (2004)
Surfaced-enhanced laser desorption/ ionization
time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) differentiation of serum
protein profiles of BRCA-1 and sporadic breast cancer.
Annals of Surgical Oncology 11(10):907-914.
Abstract
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Malyarenko DI, Chen H,
Wilkerson AL, Tracy ER, Cooke WE, Manos DM, Sasinowski M
and Semmes OJ. (2004) Ga+ TOF-SIMS Lineshape
Analysis for Resolution Enhancement of MALDI MS Spectra
of a Peptide Mixture. Applied Surface Science
231-232:357-361.
Abstract
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Laronga C, Becker S, Cazares
L, Drake R, and
Semmes OJ. (2004) SELDI-TOF serum profiling for
prognostic and diagnostic classification of breast
cancer. Disease Markers 19:229-238.
Abstract
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Grizzle W, Semmes OJ,
Feng Z, Srivastava S, Izicka E, Basler J and Thompson I.
(2004) The EDRN SELDI prostate cancer detection study: a
study in biomarker validation in GU oncology. Urologic
Oncology 22:337-343.
Abstract
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Diaz JI, Cazares LH, Corica
A, and Semmes OJ. (2004) Discovery of protein
expression differences in prostate basal cells and
epithelial cells may be indicative of early
transformation. Urologic Oncology 22:224-230.
Abstract
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Wagner M, Naik DN, Pothen A,
Kasukurti S, Devinemi RR, Adam BL, Semmes OJ, and
Wright GL. (2004) Computational protein biomarker
prediction: a case study for prostate cancer. BMC
Bioinformatics 5:26.
Abstract
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Pusztai L, Gregory BW,
Baggerly KA, Peng B, Koomen J, Kuerer HM, Esteva FJ,
Symmans WF, Wagner P, Hortobagyi GN, Laronga C,
Semmes OJ, Wright GL, Drake RR, Vlahou A. (2004)
Pharmacoproteomic analysis of prechemotherapy and
postchemotherapy plasma samples from patients receiving
neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast carcinoma. Cancer
100:1814-1822.
Abstract
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Grizzle W, Adam BL, Bigbee
WL, Conrads TP, Carroll C, Feng Z, Izbecka E, Jendoubi
M, Johnsey D, Kagan J, Leach RJ, McCarthy DB, Semmes
OJ, Srivastavas S, Srivastava S, Thompson I,
Thornquist MD, Verma M, Zhang Z, Zou Z. (2004)
Validation of SELDI-TOF Protein Profiling for
Identification of Prostate Cancer. Disease Markers
19:185-195.
Abstract
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Liggett W, Barker P,
Semmes OJ, and Cazares LH. (2004) Metrologic
analysis in the early stage of biomarker discovery.
Disease Markers 20:295-307
Abstract
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Gelman E, and Semmes OJ.
(2004) Expression of genes and proteins specific for
prostate cancer. J. Urology 172:S23-27.
Abstract
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Vlahou A, Giannopoulos A,
Gregory BW, Manousakas T, Kondylis FI, Wilson L,
Schellhammer P, Wright GL and Semmes OJ. (2004)
Urinary protein profiling of bladder cancer patients by
decision tree classification of mass spectral data.
Clinical Chemistry 50:1438-1441.
Abstract
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Feng Z, Yasui Y, McLerran D,
Adam B.-L. and Semmes OJ. (2004) Statistical
Design and Analytical Strategies for Discovery of
Disease-Specific Protein Patterns. (in press)
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Haoudi A, Semmes OJ,
Mason JM and Cannon RE. (2004) Retrotransposition of
human LINE-1 inhibits cancer cell growth by inducing
apoptosis. Journal of Biochemistry and Biomedicine (in
press)
Abstract
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Wadsworth JT, Somers KD,
Cazares LH, Adam BL, Stack BC, Wright GL and Semmes
OJ. (2004) Serum protein profiles to identify head
and neck cancer. Clinical Cancer Research 10:1625-1632.
Abstract
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Comunale MA, Mattu TS,
Lowman MA, Evans AA, London WT, Semmes OJ, Ward
M, Drake R, Romano PR, Steele LF, Block TM, Mehta A.
(2004) Comparative proteomic analysis of
de-N-glycosylated serum from hepatitis B carriers
reveals polypeptides that correlate with disease status.
Proteomics 4:826-838.
Abstract
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Liggett W, Cazares L, and
Semmes OJ. (2003) A look at mass spectral
measurement. Chance 16: 24-29.
Chance
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Twizere J-C, Kruys V,
Lefèbvre L, Vanderplasschen A, Collete D, Debacq C, Lai
WS, Jauniaux J-C, Bernstein L,
Semmes OJ, Burny A, Blackshear P, Kettmann R and
Willems L. (2003) Tax oncoproteins interact with
tristetraprolin and regulate TNF-alpha expression. JNCI
95:1846-1859.
Abstract
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Haoudi A, Daniels RC, Wong
E, Kupfer G, and
Semmes OJ. (2003) HTLV-I Tax Gene Functionally
Interacts with a Subnuclear Complex Containing chk2 and
53BP1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 278:37736-37744.
Abstract
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Wadsworth JT, Somers KD,
Cazares LH, Adam BL, Stack BC, Wright GL and Semmes
OJ. (2004) Distinguishing Healthy Smokers from Head
and Neck Cancer. Archives of Otolaryngology HN Surgery
130:98-104.
Abstract
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Vlahou A, Laronga C, Wilson
L, Gregory B, Fournier K, Perry RR, Wright GL, and
Semmes OJ. (2003) A novel approach towards
development of a rapid blood test for breast cancer.
Clinical Breast Cancer 4:203-209.
Abstract
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Haoudi A, and Semmes OJ
(2003) The HTLV-1 Tax Oncoprotein Attenuates G1 Arrest
and Induces Apoptosis in P53 Null Cells. Virology,
305:229-239.
Abstract
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