Contact Information s20

Anne Jokiaho

Contact Information E-mail: [email protected] Mail Code: 0371

Started at USC: Fall 2005

Education:

2005 – present Graduate Student, Integrative & Evolutionary Biology (Biological Sciences) University of Southern California, Los Angeles

1996 B.S., Clinical Chemistry and Hematology (Molecular Biology) Helsinki Laboratory Institute, Helsinki, Finland

Faculty Advisor(s):

Dr. Casey Donovan, Kinesiology http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/faculty/faculty1003213.html

Research Topics: hypoglycemia, portal-mesenteric glucosensors

Research Description:

I am a first year PhD student in Dr. Donovan’s lab. We are interested in the underlying mechanisms by which the body detects low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Episodes of hypoglycemia impair defenses against subsequent hypoglycemia by down-regulationg glucose counterregulation and hypoglycemia unawareness. This induces a vicious cycle of recurrent hypoglycemia known as hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure (HAAF) that constitutes the primary limitation to effective treatment of diabetes. Dr Donovan’s research group focuses on the abnormalities in glucose sensing with a particular interest in peripheral glucose sensors located in the gut. My own studies will concentrate on understanding the role of portal-mesenteric glucosensors in pathological states such as HAAF and diabetes. These studies will combine complex in vivo experiments with immunocytological imaging of the brain and portal-mesenteric vein, to elucidate the role of portal-mesenteric glucose-sensing in mediating glucose homeostasis.

Publications:

Janna Saarela, Suvi P Kallio, Daniel Chen, Alexandre Montpetit, Anne Jokiaho, Eva Choi, Rosanna Asselta, Denis Bronnikov, Matthew R Lincoln, A Dessa Sadovnick, Pentti J Tienari, Keijo Koivisto, Aarno Palotie , George C Ebers, Thomas J Hudson and Leena Peltonen: PRKCA and Multiple Sclerosis: Association in two independent populations. PLoS Genet. 2006 Mar;2(3):e42.

Riise Stensland HM, Saarela J, Bronnikov DO, Parkkonen M, Jokiaho AJ, Palotie A, Tienari PJ, Sumelahti ML, Elovaara I, Koivisto K, Pirttila T, Reunanen M, Sobel E, Peltonen L: Fine mapping of the multiple sclerosis susceptibility locus on locus 5p14-p12. J Neuroimmunol. 2005

Huertas-Vazquez A, Aguilar-Salinas C, Lusis AJ, Cantor RM, Canizales-Quinteros S, Lee JC, Mariana-Nunez L, Riba-Ramirez RM, Jokiaho A, Tusie-Luna T, Pajukanta P: Familial combined hyperlipidemia in Mexicans: association with upstream transcription factor 1 and linkage on chromosome 16q24.1. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005

Chen DC, Saarela J, Nuotio I, Jokiaho A, Peltonen L, Palotie A: Comparison of GenFlex Tag Array and Pyrosequencing in SNP Genotyping. J Mol Diagn. 2003 Nov;5(4):243-249.