Department of Medicine : Pulmonary Lab - Principal Investigator, James C. Willey, M.D.

Dr. James C. Willey, M.D. Associate Prof. of Medicine & Molecular Biology

Dr. James C. Willey, M.D.
Position - Professor of Medicine and Pathology
E-mail: james.willey2@utoledo.edu

• Determining molecular genetic basis of cancer risk
• Development of molecular diagnostic tests for better diagnosis and more optimized, individualized treatment of cancer
• Gene regulation in normal and malignant human lung cells
• Development of standardized, quantitative gene expression measurement technologies, including standardized RT-PCR and standardized immunoPCR.  These novel technologies are protected by patents owned by the University of Toledo and licensed to Gene Express, Inc. (see below)
  
  These research efforts have been funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute and  National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), the Third Frontier Fund of the State of Ohio, and the George Isaac Cancer Research Fund.

Professional Affiliations and Activities
NIH Study Section Service as Grant Reviewer (Last 2 years):
SPORE in Lung Cancers, (October; 2005, February 2007, September 2007)
Emerging Technologies in Cancer Research; (July, 2005, October, 2005, March, 2006)
Editor-in-Chief, Gene Regulation and Systems Biology (2006-Present)
DA MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC) Consortium Member  (2005-Present)
President, Ohio Chapter of the American Thoracic Society  (2004-2005)
National Cancer Institute Director’s Challenge Primary Investigator (1999-2004)
Chief Scientific and Medical Consultant, Gene Express, Inc. (2002-Present)


Present Laboratory Personnel
Erin Crawford, M.S.
Laboratory Supervisor

D’Anna Mullins, B.S. (M.D./Ph.D. candidate)

Thomas Blomquist, B.S. (M.D./Ph.D. Candidate)

James Willey, M.D.
Laboratory Director

Former Post-Doctoral Fellows
David Weaver, Ph.D., D.D.S., 1995-2002
Director of Genomics Facility, UTMC, 2002-present

Kristy Warner, Ph.D., 2000-2003
Research Laboratory Specialist Lead
University of Michigan School of Dentistry, 2003-present

Clara Jackson, M.D./Ph.D.1996-1997
Medical School, 1997-2001
Medicine/Pediatric Residency, 2001-2005
Internal Medicine/Pediatric Practice Fremont, Ohio, 2006-present

Former MS and BS Lab Members

Charles Knight, M.S., 2002-2005
Gene Express, Inc., Toledo, 2005-2007

Bradley Austermiller, B.S., 2003-2005
Gene Express, Inc., Toledo, 2005-present

Jeff Demuth, M.S., 1995-1998
Proctor and Gamble, Cincinnati, 1998-present

Compositions and methods of use of standardized mixtures 20060188908  Willey; James C. ;   et al.  August 24, 2006   

Methods and compositions for assessing nucleic acids 20060183144  Willey; James C. ;   et al.  August 17, 2006   

Method and compositions for the diagnosis and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer using gene expression profiles  20050260586   Demuth, Jeffrey P. ;   et al.  November 24, 2005 

Methods and compositions for assaying analytes 20050239116  Willey, James C.  October 27, 2005   

Method for quantitative measurement of gene expression for indentifying individuals at risk for bronchogenic carcinoma 20040197785  Willey, James C. ;   et al.  October 7, 2004

Multiplex standardized reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reacton method for assessment of gene expression in small biological samples 20030186246 Willey, James C. ;   et al.  October 2, 2003 

Braun DP, Ding JD, Shaheen F, Willey, JC, Rana N, and Dmowski WP. Quantitative Expression of Apoptosis Regulating Genes in Endometrium from Women with and without Endometriosis. Fertil and Steril., 87, 263-8, 2007.

Canales, R.D.*, Luo, Y.*, Willey, J.C.*, et al, (Canales, Luo, Willey Shared lead).  Evaluation of DNA Microarray Results with Alternative Quantitative Technology Platforms, Nature Biotechnology, 24, 1115-1122, 2006. (* equal contributors)

Leming Shi*, Reid, L. H.*, Jones, W. D.*, Shippy, R.*, Warrington, J. A.*, Baker, S. C.*, Collins, P. J.*, de Longueville, F.*, Kawasaki, E. S.*, Lee, K. Y.*, Luo, Y.*, Sun, Y. A.*,

Willey, J. C.* et al, The MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC) project shows inter- and intra-platform reproducibility of gene expression measurements, Nature Biotechnology, 24, 1151-1161, 2006. (*These listed authors were project managers) 

Shippy, R., Wolber, P., Jones, W.D., Jensen, R.V.,  Johnson, C.D., Guo, X., Chudin, E., Fulmer-Smentek, Boysen, S., C., Pine, S.P., Sun Y., Willey, J.C. et al, The use of RNA sample titrations for assessing microarray performance and normalization techniques, Nature Biotechnology, 24, 1123-1131, 2006.

Peters, GJ, van Moorsel, CJA, Lakerveld, B, Smid, K, Noordhuis, P, Comijn, EC, Weaver, D, Willey, JC, Voorn, D, Van der Vijgh, WJF, Pinedo, HM, Effects of gemcitabine on cis-platinum-dna adduct formation and repair in a panel of gemcitabine and cisplatin sensitive or resistant human ovarian cancer cell lines, Int J Oncology, 28, 237-44, 2006.

Sudoa, H, Li-Sucholeiki, X-C, Marcelino, LA, Gruhl, AN, Zarbl, H, Willey, JC, Thilly, WG, Distributions of five common point mutants in the human tracheal-bronchial epithelium, Mutation Research, 596, pages 113-127, 2006.

Graves, TG, Harr, MW, Crawford, EL, Willey, JC, Stable low-level expression of p21WAF1/CIP1in A549 human bronchogenic carcinoma cell line-derived clones down-regulates E2F1 mRNA and restores cell proliferation control, Molecular Cancer, 5, 1, 2006.

Mullins, DN, Crawford, EL, Khuder, SA, Hernandez, D-A, Yoon, Y, Willey, JC, CEBPG transcription factor correlates with antioxidant and DNA repair genes in normal bronchial epithelial cells but not in individuals with bronchogenic carcinoma, BMC Cancer,  5, 141, 2005.

Harr, MW, Graves, TG, Crawford, EL, Warner, KA, Reed, CAM, and Willey, JC, Variation in transcriptional regulation of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p21waf1/cip1 among human bronchogenic carcinomas, Molecular Cancer,  4, 23, 2005.

Weaver, DA, Crawford, EL., Warner, KA, Elkhairi, F, Khuder, SA, and Willey, JC, Association of ABCC5, ERCC2,  XPA, and XRCC1 gene expression with cisplatin chemoresistance in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines, Molecular Cancer, 4, 18, 2005.

Willey JC, Crawford EL, Knight CR, Warner KA, Motten CA, Herness EA, Zahorchak RJ, Graves TG., Standardized RT-PCR and the standardized expression measurement center, Methods Mol Biol. 2004, 258, 13-41.

Pagliarulo V, George B, Beil SJ, Groshen S, Laird PW, Cai, J, Willey J, Cote RJ, Datar RH. Related Articles, Links  Sensitivity and reproducibility of standardized-competitive RT-PCR for transcript quantification and its comparison with real time RT-PCR, Mol Cancer, 3, 5, 2004.

Warner KA, Crawford EL, Zaher A, Roshong-Denk SL, Sharief I, Amurao GV, Coombs RJ, Elsamaloty H, Yoon Y, Al-Astal AY, Jboor N, Assaly RA, Graves TG, Knight CR, Harr MW, Sheridan TB, DeMuth JP, Zahorchak RJ, Hammersley JR, Olson DE, and

Willey JC,  The c-myc x E2F-1/p21 Interactive gene expression index augments cytomorphologic diagnosis of lung cancer in fine needle aspirate specimens, Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, 5, 176-83, 2003.

Vondracek M., Weaver D., Sarang Z., Hedberg J.J, Willey J.C. Wärngård L., and Grafström R.C.  Transcript profiling of enzymes involved in detoxification of xenobiotics and reactive oxygen in human normal and Simian virus 40 T antigen-immortalized oral keratinocytes.  Int. J. of Cancer, 99, 776-782, 2002.

Crawford, EL, Warner, KA, Khuder, SA, Zahorchak, RJ, Willey, JC. Multiplex Standardized RT-PCR for expression analysis of many genes in small clinical samples. Biochem.Biophis.Res.Commun.,293,509-516, 2002.

Crawford, E.L., Godfridus, J.P., Noordhuis, P., Rots, M.G., Vondracek, M., Grafström, R.C., Lieuallen, K., Lennon, G., Zahorchak, R.J., Georgeson, M.J., Wali, A., Lechner, J.F., Fan, P.-S., Kahaleh, M.B., Khuder, S.A., Warner, K.A., Weaver, D.A., and Willey, J.C.,  Reproducible gene expression measurement among multiple laboratories obtained in a blinded study using standardized RT (StaRT)-PCR,  Mol. Diagnosis, 6, 217-225, 2001.

Rots, M.G., Willey, J.C., Jansen, G., Van Zantwijk, C.H., Noordhuis, P., DeMuth, J.P, Kuiper, E., Veerman, A.J.P., Pieters, R. and Peters, G.J.  mRNA expression levels of methotrexate resistance-related proteins in childhood leukemia as determined by a standardized competitive template-based RT-PCR method.  Leukemia, 14, 2166-2175, 2000.

Crawford E. L, Khuder S. A., Durham S. J., Frampton, M., Utell, M.A., Thilly W.G., Weaver D.A., Ferencak W.J., Jennings C.A., Hammersley J.R., Olson D.A., Willey J.C.  Normal bronchial epithelial cell expression of glutathione transferase P1, glutathione transferase M3, and glutathione peroxidase is low in subjects with bronchogenic carcinoma. Cancer Res. 60, 1609-18, 2000.

Willey, J.C., Crawford, E.L., Jackson, C.M., Weaver, D.A., Hoban, J.C., Khuder, S.A., and DeMuth, J.P.  Expression measurement of many genes simultaneously by quantitative RT-PCR using standardized mixtures of competitive templates  Amer. J. of Respiratory Cell and Mol. Biology, 19, 16-24, 1998.