Department of Biology

Professor Lazo 

Noel Lazo

Biophysical Chemistry; NMR and Mass Spectrometry of Proteins

Assistant Professor and Carlson Chair in Chemistry
Clark University
Worcester, MA 01610

E-mail: 
Phone:  508-793-7602
Office:  S335, Sackler Sciences Center

B.S., University of the Philippines, 1981
M.S., State University of New York, Syracuse, 1986
Ph.D., Texas A&M University, 1991
Postdoctoral Fellow, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Florida State
    University

Dr. Lazo held appointments at the College of Medicine of the University of Iowa, Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Department of Neurology at UCLA Dr. Lazo has been at Clark since 2006.  He recently obtained a Junior Faculty Award (2007-2009) from the American Diabetes Association

Current Research and Teaching

Research in my laboratory focuses on the biophysics of folding and aggregation of proteins. A combination of biophysical methods including NMR spectroscopy, limited proteolysis, hydrogen exchange and molecular modeling is used. Proteins of interest include the amyloid ß-protein in Alzheimer's disease, islet amyloid polypeptide associated with type 2 diabetes, prion protein in various forms of neurodegenerative disease, and skin proteins linked to epidermolysis bullosa, a disease characterized by skin blistering following little or no trauma. The long-term goal of our research is to develop drugs that inhibit the formation of the proximate pathogen. Other research interests include NMR spectroscopy of membrane proteins, methods development, and the structure and dynamics of amyloid fibrils.

Selected Publications and Papers

A.  Journals

Bernstein SL, Dupuis NF, Lazo ND, Wyttenbach T, Condrn MM, Bitan G, Teplow DB, Shea J-E, Ruololo BT, Robinson CV, and Bowers MT.  Amyloid-β protein oligomerization and the importance of tetramers and dodecamers in the aetiology of Alzheimer's disease (2009).  Nature Chemistry 1, 326-331.

Murray MM, Krone MG, Bernstein SL, Baumketner A, Condron MM, Lazo ND, Teplow DB, Wyttenbach T, Shea JE, and Bowers MT.  Amyloid beta-protein:  experiment and theory on the 21-30 fragment (2009).  Phys. Chem. B 113(17), 6041-6046.

Krone MG, Baumketner A, Bernstein SL, Wyttenbach T, Lazo ND, Teplow DB, Bowers MT, and Shea J-E.  Effects of Familial Alzheimer's Disease Mutations on the Folding Nucleation of the Amyloid β-Protein (2008).  J. Mol. Biol. 381, 221-228.

Grant MA, Lazo ND, Lomakin A, Condron MM, Arai H, Yamin G, Rigby AC, and Teplow DB.  Familial Alzheimer's disease mutations alter the stability of the amyloid ß-protein monomer folding nucleus (2007).  Proc. Natl. Acad. 104, 16522-16527.

Teplow DB, Lazo ND, Bitan G, Bernstein S, Bowers MT, Baumketner A, Shea J-E, Urbanc B, Cruz L, Borreguero JM, & Stanley HE.  Elucidating amyloid ß-protein folding and assembly: A multidisciplinary approach (2006) Actts. Chem. Res. 39, 635-645.

Maier M, Seabrook TJ, Lazo ND, Jiang L, Das P, Janus C, Lemere CA.  Short Aß immunogens reduce cerebral Aß load and learning deficits in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model in the absence of an Alzheimer's disease mouse model in the absence of an Aß-specific cellular immune response (2006) J. Neurosci. 26, 4717-4728.

Baumketner A, Bernstein SL, Wyttenbach T, Lazo ND, Teplow DB, Bowers MT, Shea J-E.  Structure of the 21-30 fragment of Alzheimer's amyloid ß-protein:  A molecular dynamics study (2006) Protein Science 15, 1239-1247.

Cruz L. Urbanc B, Borreguero, JM, Lazo ND, Teplow DB, Stanley HE.  Solvent and mutation effects on the nucleation of amyloid ß-protein folding (2005) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102, 18258-18263.

Lazo ND, Grant MA, Condron MM, Rigby AC, Teplow DB.  On the nucleation of amyloid ß-protein monomer folding (2005) Protein Science 14, 1581-1596.

Borreguero JM, Urbanc B, Lazo ND, Buldyrev SV, Teplow DB, Stanley HE.  Folding events in the 21-30 region of amyloied ß-protein (Aß) studied in silico (2005) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102, 6015-6020.

B.  Book Chapters

Lazo ND, Maji SK, Fradinger EA, Bitan G, Teplow DB.  The Amyloid ß Protein (In Amyloid Proteins:  The ß sheet Conformation and Disease) (2005) JD Sipe (ed.) Wiley-VCH Verlag Gmbh & Co., p. 385-491.

Fradinger EA, Maji SK, Lazo ND, Teplow DB.  Studying Amyloid ß-Protein Assembly (In Amyloid Precursor Protein:  A Prctical Approach) (2005) W Xia & H Xa (eds.) CRC Press, p. 83-110.