Duska Separovic

Positions and Employment
1994-96 Research Associate, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
1996-98 Senior Research Associate, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
1999-00 Instructor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Case Western Reserve University, School of
Medicine, Cleveland, OH
2000-pres. Assistant Professor, Department of Fundamental & Applied Sciences, College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

Professional Society Memberships
2004 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
1996 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
1996 American Society for Photobiology

Ad Hoc Reviewer
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Free Radical Biology & Medicine
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine
Lipids
Photochemistry and Photobiology
Radiation Research

Grant Reviewer
Ad Hoc Grant Reviewer, Canadian Institutes for Health Research

Invited Review
Separovic, D. Ceramide and apoptosis after photodynamic treatment. Recent Research Developments in Photochemistry & Photobiology, 5:155-162, 2001.

University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia B.S. 1979 Biology/Cert.Sec.Edu
University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia M.S. 1985 Preclinical Pharmacology
Kent State University, Kent, OH
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Ph.D.
Post-Doc. Fellow 1992
1992-1993 Neuroscience
Biochemistry

1991               Summer Post-Candidacy Graduate Fellowship, Kent State University, Kent, OH
1991-92     University Fellow, Kent State University, Kent, OH
1992     Travel Award, American Society for Neurochemistry
1997, 1998    Travel Awards, American Society for Photobiology

1. Separovic D, Milutinovic S, and Molnar V.  A modified cyclic enzymatic method for the determination of Na, K -ATPase in human and rat erythrocyte ghosts.  Yugoslavica Physiologica et Pharmacologica Acta 22:149-160, 1986.
2. Plavljanic DJ, Milutinovic S, Separovic D, Molnar V, Bunjevac S, and Pavlovic D.  Antibody-coated bacterial test in diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infection.  Periodicum Biologorum 8:31-35, 1986.
3. Lauf PK, with technical assistance of Separovic D.  Thiol-dependent passive K/Cl transport in sheep red cells. VII. Volume independent freezing by iodoacetamide and sulfhydryl group heterogeneity.  Journal of Membrane Biology 98:237-246, 1987.
4. Separovic D, Dorman RV.  Prostaglandin F2 alpha synthesis in the hippocampal mossy fiber synaptosomal preparation. I. Dependence on arachidonic acid, phospholipase A2, calcium availability and membrane depolarization.  Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 48:127-137, 1993.
5. Separovic D, Dorman RV.  Prostaglandin F2 alpha synthesis in the hippocampal mossy fiber synaptosomal preparation. II. Effects of receptor activation.  Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 49:877-884, 1993.
6. Separovic D, Kester M, Ernsberger P.  Coupling of L-1 receptors to diacylglyceride accumulation in PC 12 rat phaeochromocytoma cells.  Molecular Pharmacology 49:668-675, 1996.
7. Separovic D, Kester M, Haxhiu MA, Ernsberger P.  Activation of phosphatidycholine-selective phospholipase-C by I1-imidazole receptors in PC12 cells and rostral ventrolateral medulla.  Brain Research 749:335-339, 1997.
8. Separovic D, He J, Oleinick NL.  Ceramide generation in response to photodynamic treatment of L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells.  Cancer Research 57:17171-1721, 1997.
9. Separovic D, Mann KJ, Oleinick NL.  Association of ceramide accumulation with photodynamic treatment–induced cell death.  Photochemistry and Photobiology 68:101-109, 1998.
10. Separovic D, Pink JJ, Oleinick NL, Kester M, Boothman DA, McLoughlin M, Pena LA, Haimovitz-Friedman A.  Niemann-Pick human lymphoblasts are resistant to phthalocyanine 4-photodynamic therapy-induced apoptosis.  Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication 258:506-512, 1999.
11. Chiu SM, Davis TW, Meyers M, Ahmad N, Mukhtar H, Separovic D.  Phthalocyanine 4-photodynamic therapy induces ceramide generation and apoptosis in acid sphingomyelinase-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts.  International Journal of Oncology 16:423-427, 2000.
12. Nagy B, Chiu SM, Separovic D.  Fumonisin B1 does not prevent apoptosis in A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells after photosensitization with a silicon phthalocyanine.  Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 57:132-141, 2000.
13. Nagy B, Yeh WC, Mak TW, Chiu SM, Separovic D.  FADD null mouse embryonic fibroblasts undergo apoptosis after photosensitization with the silicon phthalocyanine Pc 4.  Archives of Biochemistry Biophysics 385:194-202, 2001.
14. Azizuddin K, Kalka K, Chiu SM, Ahmad N, Mukhtar H, Separovic D.  Recombinant human tumor necrosis factor alpha does not potentiate cell killing after photodynamic therapy with a silicon phthalocyanine in A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells.  International Journal of Oncology 18:411-415, 2001.
15. Belichenko I, Morishima N, Separovic D.  Caspase-resistant vimentin suppresses apoptosis after photodynamic treatment with a silicon phthalocyanine in Jurkat cells.  Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 390:57-63, 2001.
16. Wispriyono B, Schmelz EM, Pelayo H, Separovic D.  A role for the de novo sphingolipids in apoptosis of photosensitized cells.  Experimental Cell Research 279:153-165, 2002.
17. Dolgachev V, Nagy B, Taffe B, Hanada K, Separovic D.  Reactive oxygen species generation is independent of de novo sphingolipids in apoptotic photosensitized cells.  Experimental Cell Research 288:425-436, 2003.
18. Dolgachev V, Farooqui MS, Kulaeva OI, Tainsky M, Nagy B, Hanada K, Separovic D.  De novo ceramide accumulation due to inhibition of its conversion to complex sphingolipids in apoptotic photosensitized cells.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 279:23238-23249, 2004.

A Role of Ceramide in Mediating PDT-induced Apoptosis

5 R29 CA077475 (P.I.)                          12/01/98-11/30/03 (non-cost extended from 12/01/03 through11/30/04)
NIH/NCI

A Role of Ceramide in Mediating PDT-induced Apoptosis

The major goals were: (1) to determine the role of sphingomyelinase in PDT-induced ceramide generation and apoptosis; (2) to evaluate mitochondria as a ceramide target in PDT apoptosis; (3) to determine whether downstream targets, such as stress-activated protein kinase, are linked to ceramide-mediated PDT apoptosis; and (4) to evaluate a potential interaction between TNF and PDT via ceramide in photocytotoxicity.

Biochemical Basis of Pathophysiology in the Anatomic Pathologists' Assistant Program.  Assistant Professor in the Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences in the Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences at Wayne State University.