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Mary E. Abood, PhD

Associate Professor, Anatomy and Cell Biology

Associate Professor, Center for Substance Abuse Research

Telephone:  215-707-2638

Email:  mabood@temple.edu

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

Center for Substance Abuse Research

BA Chemistry, Carleton College, Northfield, MN

 

PhD, Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

    

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

    

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• American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
• College on Problems of Drug Dependence
• International Cannabinoid Research Society
• Society for Neuroscience

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Dr. Abood's laboratory is investigating recently discovered endogenous compounds called the endocannabinoids and their cellular receptors. The endocannabinoid system is thought to play a role in addiction, pain control, motor control, learning, and memory, as well as in regulating immune function and bone growth. Her lab has cloned the CB1 and CB2 receptors and identified some of the structural and concomitant functional features of these receptor molecules. These studies are designed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of CB receptor action. The endocannabinoid system is also involved in neuronal cell fate and neurodegeneration; her laboratory has published several papers on the role of cannabinoids in excitotoxicity and in the neurodegenerative disease ALS. More recently, she has also focused on identifying novel cannabinoid receptor subtypes. These efforts have led to the identification of GPR55 and GPR35 as two putative cannabinoid receptors.

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Recent Medically Related Publications, Obtained from PubMed (Click on PubMed ID to view abstract)

20590559. Scotter EL, Abood ME, Glass M, The endocannabinoid system as a target for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. Br J Pharmacol 160:3(480-98)2010 Jun

20439484. Carter GT, Abood ME, Aggarwal SK, Weiss MD, Cannabis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: hypothetical and practical applications, and a call for clinical trials. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 27:5(347-56)2010 Aug

20298715. Sharir H, Abood ME, Pharmacological characterization of GPR55, a putative cannabinoid receptor. Pharmacol Ther 126:3(301-13)2010 Jun

19723626. Kapur A, Zhao P, Sharir H, Bai Y, Caron MG, Barak LS, Abood ME, Atypical responsiveness of the orphan receptor GPR55 to cannabinoid ligands. J Biol Chem 284:43(29817-27)2009 Oct 23

19654014. Zhao P, Leonoudakis D, Abood ME, Beattie EC, Cannabinoid receptor activation reduces TNFalpha-induced surface localization of AMPAR-type glutamate receptors and excitotoxicity. Neuropharmacology 58:2(551-8)2010 Feb

19332079. Zhang M, Adler MW, Abood ME, Ganea D, Jallo J, Tuma RF, CB2 receptor activation attenuates microcirculatory dysfunction during cerebral ischemic/reperfusion injury. Microvasc Res 78:1(86-94)2009 Jun

18752948. Nomura DK, Hudak CS, Ward AM, Burston JJ, Issa RS, Fisher KJ, Abood ME, Wiley JL, Lichtman AH, Casida JE, Monoacylglycerol lipase regulates 2-arachidonoylglycerol action and arachidonic acid levels. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 18:22(5875-8)2008 Nov 15

18279310. Zhao P, Ignacio S, Beattie EC, Abood ME, Altered presymptomatic AMPA and cannabinoid receptor trafficking in motor neurons of ALS model mice: implications for excitotoxicity. Eur J Neurosci 27:3(572-9)2008 Feb

18174385. Kapur A, Samaniego P, Thakur GA, Makriyannis A, Abood ME, Mapping the structural requirements in the CB1 cannabinoid receptor transmembrane helix II for signal transduction. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 325:1(341-8)2008 Apr

17644043. Gehani NC, Nalwalk JW, Razdan RK, Martin BR, Sun X, Wentland M, Abood ME, Hough LB, Significance of cannabinoid CB1 receptors in improgan antinociception. J Pain 8:11(850-60)2007 Nov

17595161. Anavi-Goffer S, Fleischer D, Hurst DP, Lynch DL, Barnett-Norris J, Shi S, Lewis DL, Mukhopadhyay S, Howlett AC, Reggio PH, Abood ME, Helix 8 Leu in the CB1 cannabinoid receptor contributes to selective signal transduction mechanisms. J Biol Chem 282:34(25100-13)2007 Aug 24

17384224. Kapur A, Hurst DP, Fleischer D, Whitnell R, Thakur GA, Makriyannis A, Reggio PH, Abood ME, Mutation studies of Ser7.39 and Ser2.60 in the human CB1 cannabinoid receptor: evidence for a serine-induced bend in CB1 transmembrane helix 7. Mol Pharmacol 71:6(1512-24)2007 Jun

16806300. Hough LB, de Esch IJ, Janssen E, Phillips J, Svokos K, Kern B, Trachler J, Abood ME, Leurs R, Nalwalk JW, Antinociceptive activity of chemical congeners of improgan: optimization of side chain length leads to the discovery of a new, potent, non-opioid analgesic. Neuropharmacology 51:3(447-56)2006 Sep

16781706. Kim K, Moore DH, Makriyannis A, Abood ME, AM1241, a cannabinoid CB2 receptor selective compound, delays disease progression in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Eur J Pharmacol 542:1-3(100-5)2006 Aug 7

16596772. Abood ME, Molecular biology of cannabinoid receptors. Handb Exp Pharmacol :168(81-115)2005

16157695. Picone RP, Khanolkar AD, Xu W, Ayotte LA, Thakur GA, Hurst DP, Abood ME, Reggio PH, Fournier DJ, Makriyannis A, (-)-7'-Isothiocyanato-11-hydroxy-1',1'-dimethylheptylhexahydrocannabinol (AM841), a high-affinity electrophilic ligand, interacts covalently with a cysteine in helix six and activates the CB1 cannabinoid receptor. Mol Pharmacol 68:6(1623-35)2005 Dec

16078104. McAllister SD, Chan C, Taft RJ, Luu T, Abood ME, Moore DH, Aldape K, Yount G, Cannabinoids selectively inhibit proliferation and induce death of cultured human glioblastoma multiforme cells. J Neurooncol 74:1(31-40)2005 Aug

15326174. McAllister SD, Hurst DP, Barnett-Norris J, Lynch D, Reggio PH, Abood ME, Structural mimicry in class A G protein-coupled receptor rotamer toggle switches: the importance of the F3.36(201)/W6.48(357) interaction in cannabinoid CB1 receptor activation. J Biol Chem 279:46(48024-37)2004 Nov 12

15204022. Raman C, McAllister SD, Rizvi G, Patel SG, Moore DH, Abood ME, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: delayed disease progression in mice by treatment with a cannabinoid. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Other Motor Neuron Disord 5:1(33-9)2004 Mar

14613317. McAllister SD, Rizvi G, Anavi-Goffer S, Hurst DP, Barnett-Norris J, Lynch DL, Reggio PH, Abood ME, An aromatic microdomain at the cannabinoid CB(1) receptor constitutes an agonist/inverse agonist binding region. J Med Chem 46:24(5139-52)2003 Nov 20

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• Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine
• Director, Core Pharmacology Course for graduate students, 1993-1998
• Pharmacology Conference for Pharmacy students, 1991-1999

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Postdoctoral Fellows and Other Scientists Supervised:

Sean McAllister, PhD, 1999-2004

Associate Scientist, Cal Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco

 

Neetha Sallapudi,  MD, 1999-2000

in private practice

 

Sharon Anavi-Goffer, PhD, 2002-2003

Research Fellow, Aberdeen University

                                         

Chandrasekeran Raman, PhD, 2001-2004

Scientist, Xenoport

                                                              

Ankur Kapur, PhD, 2005-present

 

Pingwei Zhao, PhD, 2005-present

 

Haleli Sharir, PhD, 2008-present

Graduate Students Supervised (as Primary Advisor):

Sean McAllister, PhD, 1999

Vincent Showalter, PhD, 1996

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