Faculty > Matthew J. Lazzara

Matthew J. Lazzara

Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Education:
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, 1997
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, MIT, 2003

Postdoctoral Training:
Chemical Engineering, MIT, 2003
Biological Engineering, MIT, 2004-2007

Contact information:
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
311A Towne Building
220 South 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6393

email:
phone: 215-746-2264
fax: 215-573-2093

Current Focus of Research

ErbB-mediated cell signaling

In addition to their signal transduction role in health, ErbB receptors (e.g., EGFR, HER2) are implicated in multiple human cancers and constitute prime targets for anti-cancer therapeutics. Our work in this area entails a systems approach for elucidating how ErbB trafficking and signaling influence cell fates in the presence of different stimulatory factors and molecular therapeutics.

Cell signaling in the renal proximal tubule

Elevated excreted albumin concentration is a classical indicator of renal dysfunction, and it is increasingly appreciated as a potential mediator of renal disease as well. Our work in this area seeks to develop a detailed understanding of the coupling between fluid mechanical and mass transfer phenomena in the glomerulus and proximal tubule and consequent cell signaling and cellular fates in the proximal epithelium.

Selected Publications:

Lazzara MJ, Blankschtein D, and Deen WM. Effects of multi-solute steric interactions on membrane partition coefficients. J Colloid Interface Sci 226: 112-122, 2000.

Deen WM, Lazzara MJ, and Myers BD. Structural determinants of glomerular permeability. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 281: F579-F596, 2001.

Lazzara MJ and Deen WM. Effects of plasma proteins on the sieving of tracer macromolecules in glomerular basement membrane. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 281: F860-F868, 2001.

Lazzara MJ and Deen WM. Effects of concentration on the partitioning of macromolecule mixtures in agarose gels. J Colloid Interface Sci 272: 288-297, 2004.

van Roosmalen D, Lazzara MJ, van den Broeke LJP, Keurentjes JTF, and Blankschtein D. Protein partitioning driven by excluded-volume interactions in an aqueous nonionic micellar-gel system. Biotech Bioeng 87: 695-703, 2004.

Deen WM and Lazzara MJ. Glomerular filtration of albumin: How small is the sieving coefficient? Kidney Int 66: S63-S64, 2004.

Hendriks BH, Griffiths GJ, Benson R, Kenyon D, Lazzara M, Swinton J, Beck S, Hickinson M, Beusmans JM, Lauffenburger DA, DeGraaf D. Decreased internalization of ErbB1 mutants in lung cancer is linked with a mechanism conferring sensitivity to gefitinib. Syst Biol 153: 457-466, 2006.

Lazzara MJ and Deen WM. Model of albumin reabsorption in the proximal tubule. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 292: F430-439, 2007.

Jasper P, Chen W, Lazzara MJ, Lane K, Schoeberl B, Turke A, Lu G, Jacks T, Lauffenburger D, and Sorger P. The origins of sensitivity to the cancer drug Gefitinib are intrinsically multifactorial. Submitted.

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