​Michael Kinter, Ph.D.

Education

​Postdoctoral 1986-1988, Clinical Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

​PhD Chemistry 1986, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

​BS Chemistry 1982, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

​Research Overview

There are two primary activities in my laboratory: characterizing changes in protein expression in hearts and mitochondria from mice that are consuming a high-fat diet and characterizing the sites and chemical structure of oxidant-damaged proteins. A unique aspect of my experiments is the use of mass spectrometry to sequence and characterize proteins. These types of experiments are broadly referred to a proteomics.

In the first area of investigation, we use a proteomic approach – gel electrophoresis and quantitative mass spectrometry – to identify proteins that are differentially expressed in the heart and mitochondria. The general hypothesis being tested in this work is that the high fat diet produces a chronic oxidative stress that alters heart and mitochondrial function through changes in protein expression. Our goal is to discover previously unidentified or unstudied proteins that help drive the progression of the diet-induced heart failure.

In the second area of investigation, we use tandem mass spectrometry to characterize the site and structure of oxidative modifications to proteins. One theory of how oxidative stress affects cells is that key proteins become modified in a manner that alters their function. Our goal is to trace the specific structures that are characterized to new information about the oxidation reactions leading to those modifications and the link between those modifications and cell/tissue damage.

​Kinter Lab

​Contact

​Oklahoma Medical Research Center

​The Milligan Center, MC205

​825 NE 13th Street

Oklahoma City OK 73104

​Phone: ​(405) 271-8000 ext.47830