Yuriy Alekseyev, Ph.D.


Research Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Director, Microarray Resource

Contact Information

(617)414-1369
E-605
yurik@bu.edu

Education/Training

Ph.D. 2001, Wayne State University

Yuriy serves as director of BU Microarray Core Resource facility since 2007. Prior to joining BU, Yuriy was a post-doctoral associate with Dr. John Essigmann at MIT where he used animal models to study transcriptional networks affected by a human hepatocarcinogen Aflatoxin B1 and by chemoprevention agents that suppress aflatoxin-induced carcinogenesis.
Yuriy earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Department of Chemistry at Wayne State University in the laboratory of Dr. Romano, where he studied mechanisms of DNA replication, mutagenesis and repair of carcinogenic lesions. Prior to that he received a M.S. in biotechnology from Moscow Academy of Fine Chemical Technology and worked in Moscow State Scientific Center GNIIGenetica where he studied plant toxins and took part in development of immunotoxins for potential use in cancer therapy and organ transplantation.

Research Interests

Genetic research and technology are developing at a very fast pace. Microarray technology and massively parallel sequencing are widely used to explore the complex biological states that result from the interplay between an organism’s genome sequence and its environment. As a result, these technologies are proving themselves to be a powerful tools for diagnostics. Clinicogenomic approaches based on these technologies are beginning to yield individually tailored therapies for treating cancer and other diseases and the hope is that these types of approaches will soon become a general practice.

The mission of the Boston University Microarray Resource is to provide the investigators with the tools they need to apply the power of genome-wide experimentation to their research topics and to keep them abreast of innovations within this fast changing area. We provide services including sample processing and assistance with data analysis using the Affymetrix platform, which enables rapid, reproducible and accurate microarray analysis on the genome-wide scale. In addition to gene expression analysis the platform makes it possible to perform whole-genome association studies, copy number analysis, targeted genotyping, sequence analysis, studies of gene regulation, DNA methylation, origins of replication, transcription factor binding, alternative splicing, etc. Recently, we introduced a new service: library preparation for Illumina massively parallel sequencing. These technologies have been broadly used by members of the Boston University research community and beyond who are interested in diverse topics including cancer research, infectious disease, immunology, stem cell research and molecular biology: including many who are interested in seeing the results of this research translate into new approaches for patient diagnosis and care.

Recent publications

    1. Campbell JD, McDonough JE, Zeskind JE, Pechkovsky DV, Brandsma C, Suzuki M., Gosselink JV, Liu G, Alekseyev YO, Xiao J., Zhang X., Hayashi S, Cooper JD, Timens W, Postma DS, Knight DA, Lenburg ME, Hogg JC, Spira A. (2011) The gene expression signature of emphysematous lung destruction in COPD is reversed by a potential novel therapeutic. Cancer Prev Res (submitted)
    2. Beane J, Vick J, Anderlind C, Luo L, Zhang X, Xiao J, Alekseyev YO, Wang S, Levy S, Schembri F, Massion P, Lenburg M,  Spira A (2011) Characterizing the impact of smoking and lung cancer on the airway transcriptome via RNA-seq. Cancer Prev Res (accepted)
    3. Steiling K, Berge M, Sebastiani P, O’Connor G, Zhang X, Liu G, Xiao J, Alekseyev YO, Campbell J, Coxson HO, Hogg JC, McWilliams A, Timens W, Hiemstra PS, Sterk PJ, Sin D, Postma D, Lam S, Lenburg ME, Spira A. (2011) Airway Gene Expression as a Molecular Phenotype of COPD. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 8(2):208
    4. Panchenko MP, Siddiquee Z, Dombkowski DM, Alekseyev YO, Lenburg ME, Walker JD, Macgillivray TE, Preffer FI, Stone JR (2010) Protein kinase CK1alphaLS promotes vascular cell proliferation and intimal hyperplasia. Am J Pathol. 177:1562-72
    5. Zhang X, Liu G, Schembri F, Zhang X,  Dumas YM, Langer EM, Alekseyev YO,  O’Connor GT, Brooks DR, Sebastiani P, Lenburg ME, Spira A (2010)  Similarity and differences in effect of cigarette smoking on gene expression in nasal and bronchial epithelium.  Physiological Genomics. 41:1-8
    6. Papageorgis P, Lambert A, Ozturk S, Gao F, Pan H, Manne U, Alekseyev YO, Thiagalingam A, Abdolmaleky H, Lenburg M, Thiagalingam S (2010) Smad signaling is required to maintain epigenetic silencing during breast cancer progression.  Cancer Research.  70:968-978.
    7. Zhou J, Huang W, Tao R, Ibaragi S, Lan F, Ido Y, Wu X, Alekseyev YO, Lenburg ME, Hu GF, Luo Z. (2009) Inactivation of AMPK alters gene expression and promotes growth of prostate cancer cells. Oncogene, 28(18):1993-2002.
    8. Neeley WL, Delaney S, Alekseyev YO, Jarosz DF, Delaney JC, Walker GC, and Essigmann JM (2007) DNA Polymerase V Allows Bypass of Toxic Guanine Oxidation Products. J. Biol. Chem., 282(17): 12741-8.
    9. Alekseyev, Y. O., Hamm, M. L., and Essigmann, J. M. (2004) Aflatoxin B1 Formamidopyrimidine Adducts are Preferentially Repaired by Nucleotide Excision Repair Pathway In Vivo. Carcinogenesis, 25(6): 1-7.
    10. Essigmann, J. M., Smela, M., Alekseyev, Y. O., and Allen, J.L.(2004) Aflatoxin B1: from Damage to Mutagenesis. In: Evolving Genetics and its Global Impact. 1: 131-133, Amarin Printing and Publishing Co, Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand
    11. Alekseyev, Y. O. and Romano, L. J. (2002) Effects of Benzo[a]pyrene Adduct Stereochemistry on Downstream DNA Replication In Vitro: Evidence for Different Adduct Conformations within the Active Site of DNA Polymerase I (Klenow Fragment). Biochemistry 41(13): 4467-4479.
    12. Dzantiev, L., Alekseyev , Y. O., Morales, J. C., Kool, E. T., and Romano, L. J. (2001) Significance of Hydrogen Bonding and Shape Complementarity for the Formation and Stability of the Closed Polymerase-DNA-dNTP Complex. Biochemistry 40(10): 3215-21.
    13. Alekseyev, Y. O., Dzantiev, L., and Romano, L. J. (2001) Effects of (+)-anti-B[a]PDE Adducts on Escherichia coli DNA Polymerase I (Klenow fragment) Primer-Template binding: Evidence for Inhibition of the Catalytically Active Ternary Complex Formation. Biochemistry 40(7): 2282-90.
    14. Alekseyev, Y. O. and Romano, L. J. (2000) In vitro Replication of Primer-Templates Containing Benzo[a]pyrene Adducts by Exonuclease-deficient Escherichia coli DNA Polymerase I (Klenow Fragment): Effect of Sequence Context on Lesion Bypass. Biochemistry 39(34): 10431-10438.
    15. Tonevitsky, A. G., Rakhmanova, V. A., Agapov, I. I., Shamshiev, A. T., Usacheva, E. A, Prokoph’ev, S. A., Denisenko, O. N., Alekseyev, Y. O., and Pfueller, U. (1995) The Interactions of Anti-MLI Monoclonal Antibodies with Isoforms of the Lectin from Viscum album. Immunol Lett. 44(1): 31-4.
    16. Tonevitsky, A. G., Toptygin, A. Yu., Agapov, I. I., Rakhmanova, V. A., Shamshiev, A. T., Alekseyev, Y. O., Pfueller, U., and Frankel, A. (1995) Production of Biologically Active Recombinant Ricin B-Chain. Mol Biol (Mosk) 29(2): 398-406.
    17. Tonevitsky, A. G., Alekseyev, Y. O., Temiakov, D. E., Shamshiev, A. T., and Agapov, I. I. (1995) Interaction of Isoforms of Lectin from Viscum album with Monoclonal Antibody against a Catalitic Subunit. Biotechnology (11): 25-31.
    18. Tonevitsky, A. G., Temiakov, D. E., Moisenovich, M. M., Shamshiev, A. T., Agapov, I. I., Alekseyev, Y. O., Egorova, S. G., and Kharitonenkov, I. G. (1995) Cytotoxic Activity of the Immunotoxin on the Basis of the Catalitic Subunits of Ricin and Ricin Agglutinin and Monoclonal Antibody to 35 KDa Antigen of Human Melanoma. Biotechnology (11): 31-35.
    19. Tonevitsky, A. G., Alekseyev, Y. O., Shamshiev, A. T., Ryzhavskaya, A. S., Temiakov, D. E., and Agapov, I. I. (1995) Study of Changes in the Structure of the Plant Toxin MLI during the Adsorption on Immunological Plate and after a Treatment with Various Denaturation Agents with the Help of Monoclonal Antibodies. Biotechnology (11): 35-40.