Kevin P. Campbell, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

Office: 4269B CBRB

Lab: 4269 CBRB

Phone: (319) 335-7867

Lab: (319) 335-7710

FAX: (319) 335-6957

Physiology Office: (319) 335-7800

Email: kevin-campbell@uiowa.edu

Web Site: Campbell Lab

Research in my laboratory is focused on elucidating the molecular basis of muscular dystrophy, and developing therapeutic strategies to treat muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophies, a group of genetic diseases that primarily affect skeletal muscle, are characterized by progressive muscle weakness. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene that lead to the complete absence of dystrophin in skeletal muscle. Research in my laboratory on the function of dystrophin led to the discovery of the skeletal muscle dystrophin-glycoprotein complex, which spans the muscle cell membrane and links the sub-sarcolemma actin cytoskeleton to the surrounding basement membrane. Defects in genes that encode either components of the complex itself or mediators of its requisite post-translational modifications lead to distinct forms of muscular dystrophy. My current and future research focuses on four related areas: (1) the molecular pathogenesis of dystrophin-glycoprotein complex disorders, (2) the mechanistic basis of maintaining muscle membrane integrity, (3) the molecular pathogenesis of disorders arising from defects in dystroglycan glycosylation, and (4) the structural basis of dystroglycan function as a basement membrane receptor.

Current Publications