Lab Members - Beniam Berhane

Beniam

Dr. Beniam Berhane came to UCLA as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2003 after he completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati with Professor Pat Limbach. For his PhD work, he became expert in the mass spectrometry analysis of DNA and RNA. During his time with us at UCLA, he developed mass spectrometry methods for protein characterization and proteomics. Beniam helped design experiments to identify phosphorylated protein in Arabidopsis thaliana to study auxin-mediated signal transduction during plant growth and development. Beniam developed methods for isolation and characterization of the proteasome proteins involved in protein degradation.

Loo JA, Berhane BT, Kaddis CS, Wooding KM, Xie Y, Kaufman SL, and Chernushevich IV. Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Ion Mobility Analysis of the 20S Proteasome Complex. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2005; 16: 998-1008.

Gomes AV, Zong C, Edmondson RD, Berhane BT, Wang G-W, Le S, Young G, Zhang J, Vondriska TM, Whitelegge JP, Jones RC, Joshua IG, Thyparambil S, Pantaleon D, Qiao J, Loo JA, and Ping P. The Murine Cardiac 26S Proteasome: An Organelle Awaiting Exploration. Ann NY Acad Sci 2005; 1047: 197-207.

Currently, Beniam is a Scientist at the Roskamp Institute at Sarasota, FL, where he is applying proteomics technologies to find efficacious treatments for Alzheimer's disease, and he is also working on programs to identify targets for therapeutic intervention in drug addiction and brain injury. Beniam is a native of Eritrea.