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Faculty Detail     Name ALECIA K. GROSS GUTIERREZ   Campus Address SHEL 906 Zip 2182 Phone 205-975-8396 E-mail agross@uab.edu Other websites

Faculty Appointment(s) Appointment Type Department Division Rank Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Associate Professor Secondary  Neurobiology  Neurobiology Assistant Professor Center  General Clinical Research Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Center  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Program  Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology  Cellular and Molecular Biology Program  Genetics and Genomic Sciences  Medical Scientist Training Program  Neuroscience  Neuroscience Graduate Program

Biographical Sketch  Alecia Gross earned a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA in 2002. Prior to joining the UAB faculty in the Department of Vision Sciences in 2006, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

Society Memberships Organization Name Position Held Org Link Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)  NIH/NEI Advocacy Committee Member    Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)  Elected Biochemistry (BI) Program Committee Member  https://www.arvo.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx?Site=arvo2

Research/Clinical Interest Title GPCR trafficking in neurons and rhodopsin-mediated retinal degenerations Description The research interests of the Gross Lab are mainly focused on rhodopsin-mediated retinal degenerations and molecular mechanisms of photoreceptor membrane biogenesis; in particular, the molecular interactions necessary for formation of healthy photoreceptor disk membranes. Studies are currently focused on understanding those interactions that are defective when rhodopsin lacks the proper structure at its carboxy-terminus, as is the case in several of most forms of the blinding disease autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Knock-in mice bearing rhodopsin carboxy-terminal mutations will be used and new ones constructed to aid in the detection of binding partners to the C-terminus of rhodopsin implicated in rhodopsin trafficking.

Selected Publications  Publication PUBMEDID McAlear SD, Kraft TW, Gross AK. 2010 Rhodopsin mutations in congenital night blindness. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology (10) 664:263-72.  20238025  Budzynski E, Gross AK, McAlear SD, Peachey NS, Shukla M, He F, Edwards M, Won J, Hicks WL, Wensel TG, Naggert JK, Nishina PM. 2010 Mutations of the opsin gene (Y102H and I307N) lead to light induced degeneration of photoreceptors and constitutive activation of phototransduction in mice. The Journal of Biological Chemistry (10).  20207741  Zeitz C*, Gross AK*, Leifert D, Kloeckeber-Gruissem B, McAlear SD, Lemke J, Neidhardt J, Berger W. 2008 Identification and functional characterization of a novel rhodopsin mutation associated with autosomal dominant CSNB. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (08) 49:4105-14. *indicates authors contributed equally.   18487375  Gross AK, Decker G, Chan F, Sandoval IM, Wilson JH, Wensel TG. Defective development of photoreceptor membranes in a mouse model of recessive retinal degeneration. Vision Research. 2006 Dec;46(27):4510-8.   16979686  Wensel TG, Gross AK, Chan F, Sykoudis K, Wilson J. Rhodopsin-EGFP Knock-ins for Imaging Quantal Gene Alterations. Vision Research. 2005 Dec;45(28):3445-53.  16139321  Madabushi S, Gross AK, Philippi A, Meng EC, Wensel TG, Lichtarge O. Evolutionary trace of G protein-coupled receptors reveals clusters of residues that determine global and class-specific functions. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2004 Feb 27 279(9):8126-32.  14660595  Gross AK, Rao VR, Oprian DD. Characterization of rhodopsin congenital night blindness mutant T94I. Biochemistry. 2003 Feb 25;42(7):2009-15.  12590588  Gross AK, Xie G, Oprian DD. Slow binding of retinal to rhodopsin mutants G90D and T94D. Biochemistry. 2003 Feb 25;42(7):2002-8.   12590587  Xie G, Gross AK, Oprian DD. An opsin mutant with increased thermal stability. Biochemistry. 2003 Feb 25;42(7):1995-2001.   12590586  Gross AK, Wang Q, Wensel TG. 2008 Regulation of photoresponses by phosphorylation. Chap. 6 in Barnstable C.J., Tombran-Tink, J., eds., Visual Transduction and Non-Visual Light Perception, Humana Press, Towtowa NJ pp. 125-140.

Keywords rhodopsin, autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa, congenital stationary night blindness, GPCR trafficking

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