Gabriel Mbalaviele, PhD

Dr. Mbalaviele obtained his PhD degree in Developmental Physiology at the University of Paris VII, France. After spending 12 years in pharmaceutical industry, he joined our faculty as Associate Professor of Medicine in 2010. He is also a Co-Founder of Confluence Life Sciences and Confluence Discovery Technologies, biotechnology-based companies involved in drug development, located in the CORTEX Bioscience District adjacent to the WU medical campus.  Dr. Mbalaviele’s research is related to bone loss associated with inflammation with a focus on the role of the inflammasomes and innate immunity in this process.

Editorial Responsibilities

Reviewer: Stem Cells, Journal of Experimental Pharmacology

Recognition

• Pfizer Individual Performance Awards, 2005-2010
• Pfizer Outstanding Publication Award, 2009
• Advances in Mineral Metabolism Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 1998
• John Haddad Young Investigator Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 1998
• Procter and Gamble Young Investigator Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 1994
• ASBMR Travel Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, 1989
• Merit Scholarship, French Association for Prevention and Treatment of Decalcification, 1987-1992
• Co-holder of 5 patents
• Professional Societies and Organizations
• American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
• Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
• Advances in Mineral Metabolism

Research Interests

Dr. Mbalaviele’s research interests focus on signaling pathways activated by inflammatory mediators as applied to age-related bone loss.

Publications

• Mnich SJ, Blanner PM, Hu LG, Shaffer AF, Happa FA, O’Neil S, Ukairo O, Weiss D, Welsh E, Storer C, Mbalaviele G, Ichijo H, Monahan JB, Hardy MM, Eda H. Critical role for apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 in the development of inflammatory K/BxN serum-induced arthritis. Int Immunopharmacol. 2010 Jul 6. (In Press)
• Di Benedetto A, Watkins M, Grimston S, Salazar V, Donsante C, Mbalaviele G, Radice GL, Civitelli R. N-cadherin and cadherin 11 modulate postnatal bone growth and osteoblast differentiation by distinct mechanisms. J Cell Sci. 2010 Jul 6. (In Press)
• Mathialagan S, Poda GI, Kurumbail RG, Selness SR, Hall T, Reitz BA, Weinberg RA, Kishore N, Mbalaviele G. Expression, purification and functional characterization of IkappaB kinase-2 (IKK-2) mutants. Protein Expr Purif. 2010 Aug;72(2):254-61. Epub 2010 Feb 20.
• Baima ET, Guzova JA, Mathialagan S, Nagiec EE, Hardy MM, Song LR, Bonar SL, Weinberg RA, Selness SR, Woodard SS, Chrencik J, Hood WF, Schindler JF, Kishore N, Mbalaviele G. Novel insights into the cellular mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory effects of NF-kappaB essential modulator binding domain peptides. J Biol Chem. 2010 Apr 30;285(18):13498-506. Epub 2010 Feb 18.
• Mbalaviele G, Pauley A, Shaffer A, Zweifel B, Mathialagan S, Mnich S, Nemirovskiy O, Carter J, Gierse J, Wang J, Vazquez M, Moore W, Masferrer J, Distinction of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) inhibition from cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition in cells using a novel, selective mPGES-1 inhibitor, Biochem Pharmacol. 2010 May 15;79(10):1445-54. Epub 2010 Jan 11.