Being fortunate to train under the tutelage of Dr. James N Livingston in the Departments of Endocrinology and Biochemistry at Rochester and Drs. Edwin Krebs and John Glomset in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at U. Washington, Kenneth M. Lerea, Ph.D., gained from their wisdom, and the insight and mastery of many very talented colleagues in the field of signal transduction. Dr. Lerea's training began at a very exciting time when pathways linked to tyrosine kinases/phosphatases, phospholipid metabolism, and lipid modifications such as prenylations were becoming recognized as important cellular regulating events. In Seattle, he used the platelet as a model system to understand bidirectional control mechanisms, in which activation of the adenylyl cyclase system by endogenous agonists such as prostacyclin dampens phosphatidylinositol metabolism and subsequent activating responses. At NYMC, he extended his research to investigate the role of protein phosphatases and kinases in a variety of processes linked to platelet activating cascades (such as integrin activation) and platelet responses (adhesion, secretion, aggregation, and shedding of procoagulant microparticle).

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the laboratory activities have ceased and Dr. Lerea's activities linked to the above research interest have continued in the setting of graduate education, in the capacity as a teaching faculty, course director, and assistant dean of Master’s programs in the GSBMS. In collaboration with colleagues, he has designed courses that meld together a historical perspective with current principles in the fields of cell biology and histology. He promotes the philosophy that knowledge learned is not simply the ability to regurgitate facts, but to be able to apply foundational principals (both experimental and theoretical) to topics being discussed. 

Education

• M.S., University of Rochester
• Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Rochester

Research

• Mechanism of signal transduction
• Role of protein seryl-threonyl and tyrosyl kinases and phosphatases in integrin functions and platelet activation
• Role of platelet-derived microparticles in coagulation

Publications

• Sehgal PB, Westley J, Lerea KM, et. al. "Biomolecular condensates in cell biology and virology: Phase-separated membraneless organelles (MLOs)." Analytical biochemistry, 597(), (2020) 113691. doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2020.113691
• Schwarzenberger C, Sradnick J, Lerea KM, et. al. "Platelets are relevant mediators of renal injury induced by primary endothelial lesions." American journal of physiology. Renal physiology, 308(11), (2015) F1238-46. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00535.2014
• Bhat R, Lerea KM, Peng H, et. al. "A regulatory network of two galectins mediates the earliest steps of avian limb skeletal morphogenesis." BMC developmental biology, 11(), (2011) 6. doi: 10.1186/1471-213X-11-6
• Jiang H, Zhu AG, Mamczur M, et. al. "Stimulation of rat erythrocyte P2X7 receptor induces the release of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids." British journal of pharmacology, 151(7), (2007) 1033-40.
• Li J, Zhao X, Li X, et. al. "Angiotensin II type 2 receptor-dependent increases in nitric oxide synthase expression in the pulmonary endothelium is mediated via a G alpha i3/Ras/Raf/MAPK pathway." American journal of physiology. Cell physiology, 292(6), (2007) C2185-96.
• Lerea KM, Venjara AY, Olson SC, et. al. "Threonine phosphorylation of integrin beta3 in calyculin A-treated platelets is selectively sensitive to 5'-iodotubercidin." Biochimica et biophysica acta, 1773(2), (2007) 185-91.
• Elitok S, Brodsky SV, Patschan D, et. al. "Cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid peptide inhibits macrophage infiltration of the kidney and carotid artery lesions in apo-E-deficient mice." American journal of physiology. Renal physiology, 290(1), (2006) F159-66.

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Professional Service

• Phase 1a Co-director for the M.D. Curriculum

Teaching Responsibilities

• Course Director for Medical Histology/Cell Biology
• Graduate Cell Biology
• Graduate Histology
• Frontiers in Science