Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Training Program
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Daniel Greenspan, PhD

Position title: Professor, Cell & Regenerative Biology

Email: dsgreens@wisc.edu

Phone: 608-262-4676

Address:
4503 Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research
1111 Highland Ave

Research Interests

We have focused on the roles of the extracellular matrix and extracellular regulatory molecules in development, homeostasis, and disease. The molecules that we work with and characterize have profound effects on cellular behaviors and orchestrate various physiological processes. Most recently, a spontaneously occurring mutation in a mouse line of ours led us to describe a molecule important to mitochondrial fusion and function. Our studies employ biochemical, genetic and developmental analyses, and various in vitro and in vivo model systems. Recent studies have included characterizations of molecular events in cancer, autoimmunity, wound healing, brittle bone disease and metabolism, as described in the selected publications listed below.

Honors & Awards

  • 2005 – Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry
  • 2004 – Kellett Mid-Career Award

Selected Publications

(Find further publications on PubMed)

  • Huang G, Massoudi D, Muir AM, Dinesh C Joshi, Chuan-Li Zhang, Shing Yan Chiu, Greenspan DS. WBSCR16 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor important to mitochondrial fusion. Cell Reports 20, 923-934 (2017).
  • Huang G, Ge G, Izzi V, Greenspan DS. a3 chains of type V collagen regulate breast tumour growth via glypican-1-mediated effects. Nature Comm 8, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14351 (2017).
  • Park A, Phan N, Massoudi D, Liu Z, Kernien JF, Adams SM, Davidson JM, Birk DE, Liu B, Greenspan DS. Deficits in Col5a2 expression result in novel skin and adipose abnormalities and predisposition to aortic aneurysms and dissections. Am J Pathol 187, In press (2017).
  • Park AC, Huang G, Jankowska-Gan E Massoudi D, Kernien JF, Vignali DA, Sullivan JA, Wilkes DS, Burlingham WJ, Greenspan DS. Mucosal administration of collagen V ameliorates atherosclerotic plaque burden by inducing IL-35-dependent tolerance. J Biol Chem 291, 3359-3370 (2016). PMCID: PMC4751380
  • Muir AM, Massoudi D, Nguyen N, Keene DR, Lee S-J, Birk DE, Davidson JM, Marinkovich MP, Greenspan DS. BMP1-like proteinases are essential to the structure and wound healing of skin. Matrix Biol 56, 114-131 (2016).
  • Park AC, Phillips CL, Pfeiffer FM, Roenneburg DS, Kernien JF, Adams SM, Davidson JM, Birk DE, Greenspan DS. Homozygosity and heterozygosity for null Col5a2 alleles produce embryonic lethality and a novel classic Ehlers-Danlos syndrome-related phenotype. Am J Pathol 185, 2000-2011 (2015).
  • Muir AM, Ren Y, Hopkins Butz D, Davis NA, Blank RD, Birk DE, Lee S-J, Rowe D, Feng JQ, Greenspan DS. Induced ablation of Bmp1 and Tll1 produces osteogenesis imperfecta in mice. Hum Mol Genet 23, 3085-3101 (2014).
  • Huang G, Ge G, Wang D, Gopalakrishnan B, Butz DH, Colman RJ, Nagy A, Greenspan DS. a3(V) collagen is critical for glucose homeostasis due to effects in islets and peripheral tissues in mice. Clin. Invest. 121, 769-783 (2011). Selected by the Faculty of 1000 as being in the top 2% of published articles in biology and medicine.
  • Yang C, Park AC, Davis NA, Russell JD, Kim B, Brand DD, Lawrence MJ, Ge Y, Westphall MS, Coon JJ, Greenspan DS. Comprehensive Mass spectrometric mapping of the hydroxylated amino acid residues of the a1(V) collagen chain. J. Biol. Chem. 287, 4059- 40610 (2012).
  • Dart ML, Jankowska-Gan E, Huang G, Roenneburg DA, Keller M R, Torrealba JR, Rhoads A, Marshall-Case S, Kim B, Bobadilla JL, Haynes LD, Wilkes DS, Burlingham WJ, and Greenspan DS. IL-17-dependent autoimmunity to collagen type V in atherosclerosis. Circ. Res. 107, 1106-1116 (2010).