Department of biochemistry William H.R. Langridge, PhD Address: Center for Molecular Biology and Gene Therapy 161 Mortensen Hall Loma Linda University Loma Linda, California 92350 Phone: (909) 558-4527, extension 81362 Fax: (909) 558-4887 Email: blangridge@som.llu.edu Undergraduate: University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1962, BS. Graduate: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1973, PhD.         My PhD research was in developmental biology, at the University of Massachusetts. Under the direction of molecular biologist Dr. Francis DeToma, I studied gene regulation of glutamate dehydrogenase in the primitive eukaryote, Dictyostelium discoideum. My postdoctoral work was done in insect virology at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Here I studied the molecular biology of   entomopox and baculovirus of  insects,  with insect pathologist Dr. Donald Roberts.         Since coming to Loma Linda University, our research group has focused on the genetic engineering of food plants for improved nutrition and disease prevention. The scientific contributions our groups accomplishments include: 1) development of electroporation methods for gene transfer into plant cells; 2) The expression and regulation of the Agrobacterium mannopine synthase dual P1,P2 promoters in plant tissues; 3) The expression of human milk proteins beta casein and lactoferrin in food plants; 4) The development of a food plant based multicomponent vaccine for protection of people in less developed countries from cholera, enterotoxigenic E. coli and rotaviruses.         My laboratory's current research emphasis is in the regulation of foreign gene expression in food plants for the production and delivery of nutritional, therapeutic and vaccine proteins for improvement of the human condition. Daniel Chong, PhD, is working on the transfer and expression of human milk proteins in tomato and potato. Takeshi Arakawa and Jie Yu, two PhD graduate students, are working on the production of preventive vaccines in food plants, e.g., the prevention of the enteric diseases cholera and rotavirus as well as the use of transgenic food plants for immunotolerization. Sarah Umphress is working on colo-rectal cancer gene therapy, Hongyin Bu is using transgenic food plants for the suppression of autoimmune diabetes. News release on Dr. Langridge's work Selected publications List all PubMed documents for Biochemistry home University | Medical_Center | LLU&MC_home | Search | Employment | News_&_events | Academics | Our_mission | Admissions | Registration | Research | Alumni | Student_resources All contents copyright © 2002 Loma Linda University. All rights reserved. Revised Monday, February 11, 2002 12:23 PM Send comments and questions to webmaster@univ.llu.edu URL: http://www.llu.edu/