Department of Medicine Faculty Profile

Blanca Camoretti-Mercado
Section of Pulmonary / Critical Care
Assistant Professor of Medicine

e-mail: bcamoret@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu

Training:

Degree	Year	Institution	Area
PhD	1986	University of Buenos Aires	Biochemistry
Fellowship	1986	National Research Council, Argentina	Biochemistry
Fellowship	1988	National Research Council	Molecular & Cellular Biology
Fellowship	1991	First World Congress,France	Molecular & Cellular Biology

Academic Interests:

Dr. Camoretti-Mercado’s laboratory studies fundamental aspects of normal and diseased muscle, specifically the smooth muscle of the lungs, by using cell and animal models, and molecular, genomic, genetic, immunological, pharmacological and proteomic approaches. Abnormal smooth muscle is present in common and rare diseases such as asthma, COPD, pulmonary hypertension and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). With the ultimate goal of developing therapeutic agents to treat (and cure) these disorders, Dr. Camoretti-Mercado’s translational investigations focus on: 1) the regulation of gene expression and the role of SRF; 2) the modulation of signal transduction pathways, including TGF beta, 3) the interaction between resident and inflammatory cells within the lung, and 4) the discovery of biomarkers.

Representative Publications:

Camoretti-Mercado B, Forsythe SM, LeBeau MM, Espinosa RIII, Vieira JE, Halayko AJ, Willadsen S, Kurtz B, Ober C, Evans GA, Thweatt R, Shapiro S, Niu Q, Qin Y, Padrid PA, and Solway J. Structure, expression, and cytogenetic localization of the human SM22 gene. Genomics 49: 452-457, 1998
Halayko AJ, Camoretti-Mercado B, Forsythe SM,Vieira JE, Mitchell RW, Wylam ME, Hershenson MB, and Solway J. Divergent differentiation paths in airway smooth muscle culture: induction of functionally contractile myocytes. Am J Physiol 276 (Lung Cell Mol Physiol) L197-L206, 1999
Camoretti-Mercado B, Liu HW, Halayko AJ, Forsythe SM, Kyle JW, Fu Y, McConville J, Kogut P, Vieira JE, Patel NM, Hershenson MB, Miano JM, Parmacek MS, Burkhardt JK, and Solway J. Physiological control of smooth muscle-specific gene expression through regulated nuclear translocation of serum response factor. J Biol Chem 275: 30387-30393, 2000
Camoretti-Mercado B, Dulin NO, and Solway J. Serum response factor function and dysfunction in smooth muscle. Respir Physiol Neurobiol, 137:223-235, 2003
Camoretti-Mercado B, Fernandes DJ, Dewundara S, Churchill J, Ma L, Kogut P, McConville J, Parmacek M and Solway J. Inhibition of TGFß1-enhanced SRF-dependent transcriptional activity by Smad7. J. Biol. Chem. 281(29):20383-20392, 2006