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Dashuang (Daniel) Shi, PhD
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Children's National Medical Center
Principal Investigator, Children's Research Institute
Center for Genetic Medicine Research (CGMR)
George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Associate Professor, Pediatrics |
Contact Information
Children's National Medical Center
Center for Genetic Medicine Research (CGMR)
111 Michigan Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20010-2970
202-476-5817
dshi@cnmcresearch.org
Education & Training
| Institution & Location |
Degree |
Year(s) |
Field of Study |
| Xiamen University, China |
BS |
1983 |
Chemistry |
| Xiamen University, China |
MS |
1987 |
Chemistry |
| University of Sydney, Australia |
PhD |
1997 |
Biophysics |
Research Interests
Dashuang Shi, PhD, is a structural biologist, who joined the staff of Children’s National Medical Center in 1999. He earned his undergraduate and master degrees in Chemistry at the Xiamen University, China, and a PhD in Biophysics at the University of Sydney, Australia. He then went to the University of Minnesota as a postdoctoral associate for three years. He is currently a research associate professor at Children’s National Medical Center. As a structural biologist, Dr. Shi’s research interests are to increase the understanding of the structure-function relationships of nitrogen metabolism-related enzymes. This work focuses on the enzymes in two related pathways: (1) Urea cycle; (2) Arginine biosynthetic pathway. Urea cycle, a major pathway for the detoxification of ammonia in mammalian, involves six enzymes. Deficiency of one of these enzymes will cause urea cycle disorder. Hyperammonemia that is caused by the urea cycle disorder can lead to mental retardation or death. Dr. Shi is currently focusing on the structural and functional research of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), carbamyl phosphate synthetase and N-acetyl-L-glutamate synthetase (NAGS). Arginine biosynthetic pathway involves eight enzymatic steps to convert glutamate to arginine. The bacterial arginine biosynthetic pathway uses part of the same enzymes as those in the urea cycle. In this line of research, Dr. Shi’s main focus is on the structural and functional research of OTCase-like proteins such as recently discovered novel N-acetyl-L-ornithine and N-succinyl-L-ornithine transcarbamylases, and bifunctional N-acety-L-lglutamate synthase/kinase and N-acetyl-L-ornithine/N-acetyl-L-citrulline deacetylase. Research in Dr. Shi’s laboratory integrates the tools of X-ray crystallography, protein biochemistry and molecular biology into an analysis of the role of enzymes in nitrogen metabolism. By revealing the three-dimensional structures of these enzymes and their complexes with various substrate or/and substrate analogs, much insight will be gained into the influence of deleterious mutations on patients and the catalytic mechanisms used by these important enzymes. Establishing the structural basis of their deleterious effects is of considerable clinical importance, as well as biochemical interest. Dr. Shi has published more than 35 peer-reviewed articles and 20 abstracts.
Publications
View a partial list of publications for Dashuang (Daniel) Shi, PhD through the National Library of Medicine's PubMed online database.
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