Anu Chaudhary

Cell Signaling & Assay Development

Anu Chaudhary is a Principal Investigator in the Biosecurity and Public Health Group in Bioscience Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was trained in Bio-organic Chemistry at SUNY-Stony Brook and received her Ph.D. in 1997 under the guidance of Dr. Glenn D. Prestwich in synthesis and biochemical characterization of photoactivatable analogs of phosphatidylinositol polyphosphates.  After her Ph.D., she pursued postdoctoral studies in Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Dr. Joan S. Brugge, developing assays to identify direct substrates of protein kinase Akt.  She also studied integrin- mediated cell signaling and identified a role for protein kinase Pak in phosphatidylinositol 3’- kinase mediated Raf signaling.  She continued postdoctoral work at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the laboratory of Dr. Jonathan A. Cooper developing assays to identify substrates for tyrosine kinase c-Src.   In 2001, she moved to the Metabolic and Respiratory Diseases Group in Wyeth Research, Cambridge and worked on developing assays for high throughput screening of protein kinases.  Anu came to LANL in 2002 to study innate immune responses mediated by foreign matter (incl. particulates such as beryllium, and pathogens). 

Research Interests

• Characterization of very early events in the host innate immune response towards pathogens and particulates. 
• Identification of specific protein-protein interactions mediated by the host in response to detection of pathogen components by innate immune receptors (toll like receptors).
• Identification of specific protein-protein interactions mediated by pathogens in the host to evade detection by the host.

Representative Publications

S. Silva, K. Ganguly, T.M. Fresquez, G. Gupta, T.M. McCleskey and A. Chaudhary, “Beryllium Alters LPS-Mediated STAT3 Phosphorylation and Cytokine Release in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells.  J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. In Press (2009).

H.V.K. Diyablanage, K. Ganguly, G. E. Collins, B.L. Scott, A. Chaudhary, A. K. Burrell, T. M. McCleskey, “Three Coordinate Ligands for Physiological Beryllium Imaging by Fluorescence”. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 120, 7442-7444 (2008).

A. Chaudhary, T.M. Fresquez and M.J. Naranjo, “Tyrosine Kinase Syk Associates with Toll Like Receptor 4 and Regulates Signaling in Human Monocytic Cells”. Immunol. Cell Biol. 85: 249-256 (2007).

A. Chaudhary, N.N. Sauer and G. Gupta, “Beryllium-Mediated Immune Response in Primary Cells from Healthy Individuals” Toxicol. 201: 9-19 (2004). 

A. Chaudhary, J.S. Brugge and J.A. Cooper, "Direct Phosphorylation of Focal Adhesion Kinase by c-Src:  Evidence Using a Modified Nucleotide Pocket Kinase and ATP-Analog" Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 294: 293-300 (2002).

X. Li,  M.P. Rivas, M. Fang, J. Marchena, B. Mehrotra, A. Chaudhary, L. Feng, G.D. Prestwich and V. A. Bankaitis, “Analysis of Oxysterol Binding Protein Homologue Kes1p Function in Regulation of Sec14p-Dependent Protein Transport from the Yeast Golgi Complex” J Cell Biol. 157(1):63-77 (2002).

G.S. Kular, A. Chaudhary, G.D. Prestwich, P. Swigart, S. Cockcroft and R. Wetzker, "Co-operation of Phosphatidylinositol Transfer Protein with Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase g in the Generation of 3-Phosphorylated Inositol Lipids," Adv. Enzyme Reg. 42: 53-61 (2002).

A. Chaudhary, W.G. King, M.D. Mattaliano, J.A. Frost,  B. Diaz, D.K. Morrison, M.H. Cobb, M.S. Marshall and J.S. Brugge, "Phosphatidylinositol 3’- Kinase Regulates Raf-1 through Pak Phosphorylation of Serine 338" Curr. Biol.10: 551-554 (2000). 

A.A. Profit, J. Chen, Q.-M. Gu, A. Chaudhary, K. Prasad, E.M. Lafer and G.D. Prestwich, "Probing the Phosphoinositide Binding Site of the Clathrin Assembly Protein AP-2 with Photoaffinity Labels" Arch.Biochem. Biophys. 357: 85-94 (1998).

A. Chaudhary, J. Chen, Q.-M. Gu, W. Witke, D.J. Kwiatkowski and G.D. Prestwich, "Probing the Phosphoinositide 4,5 Bisphosphate Binding Site of Human Profilin I" Chem. & Biol. 5: 273-281 (1998).

K.M. Loyet, J.A. Kowalchyk, A. Chaudhary, J. Chen, G.D. Prestwich, T.F.J. Martin, "The Specific Binding of Phosphatidylinositol 4,5 Bisphosphate to Calcium-Dependent Activator Protein for Secretion (CAPS), a Potential Phosphoinositide Effector Protein for Regulated Exocytosis" J. Biol. Chem. 273: 8337-8343 (1998).

A. Chaudhary, Q.-M. Gu, O. Thum, A.A. Profit, Y. Qing, L. Jeyakumar, S. Fleischer and G.D. Prestwich, "Specific Interaction of Golgi Coatomer aCOP with Phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 Trisphosphate" J. Biol. Chem. 273: 8344-8350 (1998).

A. Chaudhary and G.D. Prestwich, "A Photoaffinity Analogue for the Anti-inflammatory Drug- a-Trinositol:  Synthesis and Identification of Putative Molecular Targets" Bioconjugate Chem.8: 680-685 (1997).

A. Chaudhary, B. Mehrotra and G.D. Prestwich, "Rapid Purification of Reporter Group-Tagged-Inositol Hexakisphosphate on Ion Exchange Membrane Adsorbers" BioTech. 23: 427-430 (1997).

E. Tall, G. Dorman, P. Garcia, L. Runnels, S. Shah, J. Chen, A.A. Profit, Q-M. Gu, A. Chaudhary, G.D. Prestwich and M.J. Rebecchi, "Phosphoinositide Binding Specificity among Phospholipase C Isozymes as Determined by Photo-Cross-Linking to Novel Substrate and Product Analogs" Biochem. 36: 7239-7248 (1997). 

B. Mehrotra, J.T. Elliott, J. Chen, J.D. Olszewski, A.A. Profit, A. Chaudhary, M. Fukuda, K. Mikoshiba and G.D. Prestwich "Selective Photoaffinity Labeling of the Inositol Poly phosphate Binding C2B Domains of Synaptotagmins" J. Biol. Chem. 272: 4237-4244 (1997).
A. Chaudhary, G. Dorman and G.D. Prestwich, "Synthesis of P-5 Tethered Inositol 1,2,6 Trisphosphate, An Affinity Reagent for a-Trinositol Receptors" Tetrahedron Lett. 35: 7521-7524 (1994).

Book Chapters and Invited Reviews

K. Nag and A. Chaudhary, “Mediators of Tyrosine Phosphorylation in Innate Immunity: from Host Defense to Inflammation onto Oncogenesis” Current Signal Transduction Therapy, 4(2), 76-81 (2009).

B. L. Scott, T.M. McCleskey, A. Chaudhary, E. Hong-Geller and S. Gnanakaran, “ The Bioinorganic Chemistry and Associated Immunology of Chronic Beryllium Disease”  Feature Article.Chem. Comm. 2837-2847 (2008).  

E. Hong-Geller, A. Chaudhary and S. Lauer, “Targeting Toll-Like Receptor Signaling Pathways for Design of Novel Immune Therapeutics” Curr. Drug. Discovery Technol. 5(1), 29-38 (2008).
E. Hong-Geller and A. Chaudhary, “Chemokine Function in Granulomatous Lung Disease”, Chapter 4 in Chemokine Research, Nova Science Publishers, New York. ISBN: 978-1-60021-641-1, 73-84 (2007).

G. D. Prestwich, A. Chaudhary, J. Chen, L. Feng, B. Mehrotra and J. Peng, "Probing Phosphoinositide Polyphosphate Binding to Proteins" Symposium Series No. 718, Chapter 2 in Phosphoinositides:  Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biomedical Applications ISBN: 0-8412-3628-3 (1997).

G. D. Prestwich, G. Dorman, J.T. Elliott, D.M. Marecak and A. Chaudhary, "Benzophenone Photoprobes for Phosphoinositides, Peptides, and Drugs" Photochem. Photobiol. 65: 222-234 (1997). 

A. Chaudhary and G.D. Prestwich, "Adenophostins:  Newly Discovered Metabolites of Penicillium brevicompactum as Potent Agonists of the Inositol 1,4,5 Trisphosphate Receptor" ChemTractsOrg. Chem. 7: 111-114 (1994).