About

Laurie Parker, PhD, is a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Her research focuses on assay development for post-translational modifications, with an emphasis on protein phosphorylation by tyrosine kinases. Her team utilizes chemical biology and proteomics techniques to develop tests that enable rapid screening for improved inhibitor drugs and to assess the effectiveness of inhibitors in order to enhance patient outcomes during cancer treatment.

Research topics

• Biology
• Computer Science
• Internal medicine
• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Chemistry
• Medicine
• Chromatography
• Optics
• Endocrinology
• Computational biology
• Biophysics
• Physics
• Database

Selected publications

• Sorbate induces lysine sorbylation through noncanonical activities of class I HDACs to regulate the expression of inflammation genes

  Science Advances · 2025-05-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Environmental factors may affect gene expression through epigenetic modifications of histones and transcription factors. Here, we report that cellular uptake of sorbate, a common food preservative, induces lysine sorbylation (Ksor) in mammalian cells and tissue mediated by the noncanonical activities of class I histone deacetylases (HDAC1-3). We demonstrated that HDAC1-3 catalyze sorbylation upon sorbate uptake and desorbylation in the absence of sorbate both in vitro and in cells. Sorbate uptake in mice livers significantly induced histone Ksor, correlating with decreased expressions of inflammation-response genes. Accordingly, sorbate treatment in macrophage RAW264.7 cells upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation dose-dependently down-regulated proinflammatory gene expressions and nitric oxide production. Proteomic profiling identified RelA, a component of the NF-κB complex, and its interacting proteins as bona fide Ksor targets and sorbate treatment significantly decreased NF-κB transcriptional activities in response to LPS stimulation in RAW264.7 cells. Together, our study demonstrated a noncanonical mechanism of sorbate uptake in regulating epigenetic histone modifications and inflammatory gene expression.

  PublisherDOI

• Novel terbium-sensitizing peptide substrates for cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) and their demonstration in luminescence kinase assays

  RSC Chemical Biology · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Novel time-resolved terbium luminescence assays were developed for CDK5 and CDK2 by designing synthetic substrates which incorporate phospho-inducible terbium sensitizing motifs with kinase substrate consensus sequences. A substrate designed for CDK5 showed no phosphorylation by CDK2, opening the possibility for CDK5-specific assay development for selective drug discovery.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Novel approach to exploring protease activity and targets in HIV-associated obstructive lung disease using combined proteomic-peptidomic analysis

  Respiratory Research · 2024-09-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Obstructive lung disease (OLD) is increasingly prevalent among persons living with HIV (PLWH). However, the role of proteases in HIV-associated OLD remains unclear. METHODS: We combined proteomics and peptidomics to comprehensively characterize protease activities. We combined mass spectrometry (MS) analysis on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) peptides and proteins from PLWH with OLD (n = 25) and without OLD (n = 26) with a targeted Somascan aptamer-based proteomic approach to quantify individual proteases and assess their correlation with lung function. Endogenous peptidomics mapped peptides to native proteins to identify substrates of protease activity. Using the MEROPS database, we identified candidate proteases linked to peptide generation based on binding site affinities which were assessed via z-scores. We used t-tests to compare average forced expiratory volume in 1 s per predicted value (FEV1pp) between samples with and without detection of each cleaved protein and adjusted for multiple comparisons by controlling the false discovery rate (FDR). FINDINGS: We identified 101 proteases, of which 95 had functional network associations and 22 correlated with FEV1pp. These included cathepsins, metalloproteinases (MMP), caspases and neutrophil elastase. We discovered 31 proteins subject to proteolytic cleavage that associate with FEV1pp, with the top pathways involved in small ubiquitin-like modifier mediated modification (SUMOylation). Proteases linked to protein cleavage included neutrophil elastase, granzyme, and cathepsin D. INTERPRETATIONS: In HIV-associated OLD, a significant number of proteases are up-regulated, many of which are involved in protein degradation. These proteases degrade proteins involved in cell cycle and protein stability, thereby disrupting critical biological functions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The lung proteome in HIV-associated obstructive lung disease

  ERJ Open Research · 2024-09-27 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Rationale Obstructive lung disease is increasingly common among persons living with HIV (PLWH). There are currently no validated biomarkers that identify individuals at risk of developing obstructive lung disease (OLD), and specific mechanisms contributing to HIV-associated OLD remain elusive, independent of smoking. We sought to identify biomarkers and biological pathways associated with OLD using a broad proteomic approach. Methods We performed tandem mass tagging and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from persons living with HIV with OLD (n=26) and without OLD (n=26). We combined untargeted MS with a targeted SomaScan aptamer-based approach. We used Pearson correlation tests to identify associations between each protein and lung function (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ) % pred). We adjusted for multiple comparisons using a false discovery rate adjustment. Significant proteins were entered into a pathway over-representation analysis. Protein-driven endotypes were constructed using K-means clustering. Measurements and main results We identified over 3800 proteins by MS and identified 254 proteins that correlated with FEV 1 % pred when we combined the MS and SomaScan proteomes when adjusting for smoking status. Pathway analysis revealed cell adhesion molecules as significant. Conclusions Protein expression differs in the lung of PLWH and decreased lung function (FEV 1 % pred). Pathway analysis reveals cell adhesion molecules having potentially important roles in this process.

  PublisherDOI

• Novel Approach to Exploring Protease Activity and Targets in Hiv-Associated Obstructive Lung Disease Using Combined Proteomic-Peptidomic Analysis

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Antibody-free time-resolved terbium luminescence assays designed for cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5)

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-04-24

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Novel time-resolved terbium luminescence assays were developed for CDK5 and CDK2 by designing synthetic substrates which incorporate phospho-inducible terbium sensitizing motifs with kinase substrate consensus sequences. Substrates designed for CDK5 showed no phosphorylation by CDK2, opening the possibility for CDK5-specific assay development for selective drug discovery.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Novel Approach to Exploring Protease Activity and Targets in HIV-associated Obstructive Lung Disease using Combined Proteomic-Peptidomic Analysis

  Research Square · 2024-06-04

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Additional file 1 of An optimized workflow for MS-based quantitative proteomics of challenging clinical bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples

  Figshare · 2023-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  Additional file 1: Figure S1. Representative spectra of contamination results; precipitation vs. S-traps.

  PublisherDOI

• Additional file 2 of An optimized workflow for MS-based quantitative proteomics of challenging clinical bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples

  Figshare · 2023-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  Additional file 2: Table S1. Protein and peptide yield at each step of the BALF processing workflow for 45 individual BALF samples.

  PublisherDOI

• Additional file 5 of An optimized workflow for MS-based quantitative proteomics of challenging clinical bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples

  Figshare · 2023-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  Additional file 5: Table S4. Quantitative protein and peptide identification across one TMT 16-plex group, comparing microfractionated vs. unfractionated analysis.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R33CA183671

  NIH · $1.1M · 2018

• NIH Grant R00CA127161

  NIH · $785k · 2014

• NIH Grant R21CA160129

  NIH · $356k · 2014

• NIH Grant K99CA127161

  NIH · $279k · 2010

• NIH Grant F32CA117672

  NIH · $93k · 2007

Frequent coauthors

• Nur P. Damayanti

  40 shared

• Joseph Irudayaraj

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  38 shared

• Sampreeti Jena

  35 shared

• Jackie Tan

  University of Minnesota System

  33 shared

• Erica D. Pratt

  University of Minnesota

  32 shared

• Christine Wendt

  VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System

  21 shared

• Andrew M. Lipchik

  Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

  20 shared

• C. Caroline O’Hare

  Weatherford (Norway)

  20 shared

Education

• PhD, Chemistry

  University of Glasgow

  2003

• B.A., Chemistry

  University of St. Thomas

  2000

Awards & honors

• Dr. James E. Rubin Medical Memorial Award
• Graduating Medical Student Research Award
• Veneziale-Steer Award
• Dr. Marvin and Hadassah Bacaner Research Awards
• Schmidt Steer Award