DR. JUSTIN A. MACDONALD

B.Sc. Hons. (Mount Allison University), Ph.D. (Carlton University) -Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.

Affiliations: Member of the Smooth Muscle Research Group and Gastrointestinal Research Group. Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Smooth Muscle Pathophysiology. AHFMR Scholar. 

Research Interests:

(1)  Zipper-interacting protein kinase: protein structure and function in smooth muscle contraction
(2) Smoothelin-like 1 protein: protein structure and function in smooth muscle contraction
(3) Smooth muscle myosin phosphatase: examination of novel MAPK and PKG-dependent regulatory phosphorylation events
(4)   Inflammation and gastrointestinal smooth muscle contractility
(5)  Clostridium difficile-associated colitis: hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 signaling and innate protection from intestinal injury
(6)   The inflammasome: NALP protein function and caspase-1/IL-1beta signaling

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Personnel:

View Pub Med for Recent publications & abstracts

Recent Publications:

• The NLRP3 inflammasome plays key role in the regulation of intestinal homeostasis. , Simon Hirota, Jeff Ng, Alan Lueng, Maitham Khajah, Ken Parhar, Yan Li, Mireille Potentier, Donna-Marie McCafferty, Kevin Rioux, Victor Lam, Subrata Ghosh, Ramnik Xavier, Sean Colgan, Jurg Tschopp, Daniel Muruve, Justin MacDonald*, Paul Beck*, Journal of Immunology, 2010 --, accepted pending minor revisions * co-senior authorship with Paul Beck, Refereed, In Press
• Clostridium difficile toxin-induced inflammation and intestinal injury are mediated by the inflammasome, Jeff Ng, Simon Hirota, Olaf Gross, Yan Li, Annegret Ulke-Lemee, Mark Seamone, Hanping Feng, Glen Armstrong, Jurg Tschopp, Justin MacDonald, Daniel Muruve, Paul Beck, Gastroenterology, 2010 --, PMID: 20398664, Refereed, In Press
• Hypoxia-inducible factor signaling provides protection in Clostridium difficile-induced intestinal injury, Simon Hirota, Kyla Fines, Jeff Ng, Danya Traboulsi, Josh Lee, Eikichi Ihara, Yan Li, William Willmore, Dan Chung, Melanie Scully, Tom Louie, Sean Medlicott, Manigandan Lejeune, Kris Chadee, Glen Armstrong, Sean Colgan, Daniel Muruve, Justin MacDonald*, Paul Beck*, Gastroenterology, 2010 --, * co-senior authorship with Paul Beck PMID: 20347817, Refereed, In Press
• Exploring the Interplay of Barrier Function and Leukocyte Recruitment in Intestinal Inflammation by Targeting Fucosyltransferase VII and Trefoil Factor 3, Paul Beck, Eikichi Ihara, Simon Hirota, Justin MacDonald, Di Meng, N. Nanda Nanthakumar, Dan Podolsky, Ramnik Xavier, American Journal of Physiology- Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology, 2010 --, PMID: 20299601 In Press
• Opportunities to target specific contractile abnormalities with smooth muscle protein kinase inhibitors, Annegret Ulke-Lemee, Justin MacDonald, Pharmaceuticals, Volume 3, Issue 6, 2010 May, From Page 1739, To Page 1760, Refereed
• Extracts of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta, suppress macrophage activation in vitro and alleviate chemically induced colitis in mice., Michael Johnston, Arthur Wang, M Catarino, L Ball, Van Phan, Justin MacDonald, Derek McKay, Infection and Immunity, Volume 78, Issue 3, 2010 March, From Page 1364, To Page 1375
• Ca2+-independent contraction of longitudinal ileal smooth muscle is potentiated by a zipper-interacting protein kinase pseudosubstrate peptide., Eikichi Ihara, Lori Moffat, Meredith Borman, Jennifer Amon, Michael Walsh, Justin MacDonald, American Journal of Physiology- Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology, Volume 297, Issue 2, 2009 August, From Page G361, To Page G370
• Glycation of wood frog (Rana sylvatica) hemoglobin and blood proteins: In vivo and in vitro studies.MacDonald JA, Degenhardt T, Baynes JW, Storey KB.Cryobiology. 2009 Jun 18. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19540217 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher
• The role of the calponin homology domain of smoothelin-like 1 (SMTNL1) in myosin phosphatase inhibition and smooth muscle contraction.Borman MA, Freed TA, Haystead TA, MacDonald JA. Mol Cell Biochem. 2009 Jul;327(1-2):93-100. Epub 2009 Feb 14.
  PMID: 19219534 [PubMed - in process]
• Mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways contribute to hypercontractility and increased Ca2+ sensitization in murine experimental colitis.Ihara E, Beck PL, Chappellaz M, Wong J, Medlicott SA, MacDonald JA. Mol Pharmacol. 2009 May;75(5):1031-41. Epub 2009 Feb 3.
  PMID: 19190174 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) signaling in therapeutics: implications for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.Hirota SA, Beck PL, MacDonald JA.
  Recent Pat Inflamm Allergy Drug Discov. 2009;3(1):1-16.PMID: 19149741 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Parasitic helminths: a pharmacopeia of anti-inflammatory molecules.Johnston MJ, MacDonald JA, McKay DM. Parasitology. 2009 Feb;136(2):125-47. Epub 2008 Dec 15.
  PMID: 19079844 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Smooth muscle phenotypic plasticity in mechanical obstruction of the small intestine.
  MacDonald JA.Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2008 Jul;20(7):737-40.PMID: 18557891 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Solution structure of the calponin homology (CH) domain from the smoothelin-like 1 protein: a unique apocalmodulin-binding mode and the possible role of the C-terminal type-2 CH-domain in smooth muscle relaxation.Ishida H, Borman MA, Ostrander J, Vogel HJ, MacDonald JA.J Biol Chem. 2008 Jul 18;283(29):20569-78. Epub 2008 May 12.
  PMID: 18477568 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Coimmunopurification of phosphorylated bacterial- and plant-type phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylases with the plastidial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from developing castor oil seeds.Uhrig RG, O'Leary B, Spang HE, MacDonald JA, She YM, Plaxton WC.
  Plant Physiol. 2008 Mar;146(3):1346-57. Epub 2008 Jan 9.PMID: 18184736 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• The effect of hibernation on protein phosphatases from ground squirrel organs.
  MacDonald JA, Storey KB. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2007 Dec 15;468(2):234-43. Epub 2007 Oct 13 PMID: 17964276 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Characterization of protein kinase pathways responsible for Ca2+ sensitization in rat ileal longitudinal smooth muscle.Ihara E, Moffat L, Ostrander J, Walsh MP, MacDonald JA.
  Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2007 Oct;293(4):G699-710. Epub 2007 Jul 26.
  PMID: 17656444 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• The regulation of smooth muscle contractility by zipper-interacting protein kinase.
  Ihara E, MacDonald JA.Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2007 Jan;85(1):79-87.PMID: 17487247 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Staurosporine inhibition of zipper-interacting protein kinase contractile effects in gastrointestinal smooth muscle.Borman MA, MacDonald JA, Haystead TA. Biochem Cell Biol. 2007 Feb;85(1):111-20.PMID: 17464351 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• Inhibition of zipper-interacting protein kinase function in smooth muscle by a myosin light chain kinase pseudosubstrate peptide.Ihara E, Edwards E, Borman MA, Wilson DP, Walsh MP, MacDonald JA. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2007 May;292(5):C1951-9. Epub 2007 Jan 10. PMID: 17215325 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Contact Information:

The University of Calgary,
Room GAA20 Health Research Innovation Centre
3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 4Z6
Phone: (403) 210-8433
Lab: 403-220-6636 
Fax: (403) 270-2211
E-mail: jmacdo [at] ucalgary [dot] ca