Daniel L. Simmons
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Office: E280 BNSN
Office Phone: 422-4441
Email: dan_simmons@byu.edu
Education
BS, Brigham Young University (1978)
MS, Brigham Young University (1980)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin--Madison (1986)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (1986-89)
Visiting Scientist, The William Harvey Research Institute, London, England (1995-96)
Research Interests
Discoverer of connective tissue growth factor (identified as 1st member of this family), serum inducible kinase, cyclooxygenase-2, and other growth control proteins. Current research focuses primarily on COX-2.
Student Involvement/ Requirements
My laboratory trains both undergraduate and graduate students. At any given time I typically have 6 undergraduates training in my laboratory. The vast majority of these are working on their undergraduate honors theses. Students in my laboratory are regularly authors of publications, many of which have been published in high-profile journals. In my laboratory, undergraduates receive their own research project which they are expected to pursue to completion. This project should be of publishable quality, and should result in a publication, either as an honors thesis or as a paper in a scientific journal, or as both.
I take undergraduates during their sophomore and junior years. Applicants should be honors students and should have completed Chem 481. Strong work experience is favorable, as it demonstrates the student’s ability to work hard. A commitment of at least two years is required. The undergraduate receives supervision from me, but they start out working with either a post-doc, a graduate student or an advanced undergraduate. The primary source of funding is NIH.
Publications
Wilson J.E., Chandrasekharan, N.V., Westover K.D., Eager, K.B., Simmons, D.L., “Determination of expression of cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 isozymes in canine tissues and their differential sensitivity to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,” American Journal of Veterinary Research, 65, 810-818 (2004).
Simmons, D.L., Botting, R., Hla, T., “Cyclooxygenase isozymes: The Biology of Prostaglandin Synthesis and Inhibition,” Pharmacological Reviews, 56, 387-437 (2004).
Cui, J.-G., Kuroda, H., Chandrasekharan, N.V., Pelaez, R.P., Simmons, D.L., Bazan, N.G., Lukew, W.J., “Cyclooxgyenase-3 Gene Expression in Alzheimer Hippocampus and in Stressed Human Neuronal Cells,” Neurochemical Research, 29, 1731-1737 (2004).
Chandrasekharan, N.V., Simmons, D.L., “Protein Family Review: The Cyclooxygenases,” Genome Biology 5, 241-246 (2004).
