Alexander Ljubimov, PhD

Director, Opthalmology Research Laboratories
Email:ljubimov@cshs.org
Phone:(310) 248-8583
Fax:(310) 248-8066

Institute Affiliation

Regenerative Medicine Institute

Academic Appointments

Professor, Surgery
Professor, Medicine

Awards and Activities

Silver Fellow of ARVO2010
Marquis Who's Who in America2004
American Cancer Society-Eleanor Roosevelt International UICC Fellowship1991
Research Training Fellowship, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France1982
Editorial Board Member: Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual ScienceCurrent
Editorial Board Member: PLoS OneCurrent
Editorial Board Member: Molecular VisionCurrent
Editorial Board Member: Experimental Biology and MedicineCurrent
Editorial Board Member: Vascular CellCurrent
Executive Editor: Experimental Eye ResearchCurrent
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology1993
American Diabetes Association1995
International Society for Eye Research2000

Research Focus

Gene therapy for diabetic corneal stem cells. Generation of corneal epithelium from iPSC for limbal stem cell deficiency therapy. Inhibition of protein kinase CK2 to block pathological retinal angiogenesis. miRNA in normal and diabetic cornea.

Research Contributions

Discovered markers of diabetic keratopathy and normalized corneal epithelial stem cells by gene therapy. Develops new methods for corneal cell generation from iPS cells. Uncovered the angiogenic role of protein kinase CK2 and used combination therapy against pathological retinal angiogenesis.

Current investigations include:

Gene therapy for diabetic keratopathy using organ-cultured corneas with focus on stem cells. Generation of corneal epithelium from iPS cells for limbal stem cell deficiency. miRNA changes in diabetic corneas.

Selected Publications

  1. Kramerov AA, Ahmed K, Ljubimov AV: Cell rounding in cultured human astrocytes and vascular endothelial cells upon inhibition of CK2 is mediated by actomyosin cytoskeleton alterations. J. Cell. Biochem., 113(9): 2948-56, 2012
  2. Saghizadeh M, Soleymani S, Harounian A, Bhakta B, Troyanovsky SM, Brunken WJ, Pellegrini G, Ljubimov AV: Alterations of epithelial stem cell marker patterns in human diabetic corneas and effects of c-met gene therapy. Mol. Vis., 17: 2177-90, 2011
  3. Inoue S, Ding H, Portilla-Arias J, Hu J, Konda B, Fujita M, Espinoza A, Suhane S, Riley M, Gates M, Patil R, Penichet ML, Ljubimov AV, Black KL, Holler E, Ljubimova JY: Polymalic acid-based nanobiopolymer provides efficient systemic breast cancer treatment by inhibiting both HER2/neu receptor synthesis and activity. Cancer Res., 71(4): 1454-64, 2011
  4. Kramerov AA, Golub AG, Bdzhola VG, Yarmoluk SM, Ahmed K, Bretner M, Ljubimov AV: Treatment of cultured human astrocytes and vascular endothelial cells with protein kinase CK2 inhibitors induces early changes in cell shape and cytoskeleton. Mol. Cell. Biochem., 349(1-2): 125-37, 2010
  5. Ding H, Inoue S, Ljubimov AV, Patil R, Portilla-Arias J, Hu J, Konda B, Wawrowsky KA, Fujita M, Karabalin N, Sasaki T, Black KL, Holler E, Ljubimova JY: Inhibition of brain tumor growth by intravenous poly (ß-L-malic acid) nanobioconjugate with pH-dependent drug release [corrected]. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 107(42): 18143-8, 2010
  6. Koronyo-Hamaoui M, Koronyo Y, Ljubimov AV, Miller CA, Ko MK, Black KL, Schwartz M, Farkas DL: Identification of amyloid plaques in retinas from Alzheimer's patients and noninvasive in vivo optical imaging of retinal plaques in a mouse model. Neuroimage, 54 Suppl 1: S204-17, 2010
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