Dr. Joseph Feher
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Contact Information
Department of Physiology and Biophysics Virginia Commonwealth University P.O. Box 980551 Richmond, Virginia 23298-0551 Tel: 804-828-9761 Fax: 804-828-7382 email: feher@hsc.vcu.edu |
Joseph J. Feher completed his undergraduate training at Cornell University, majoring in Biochemistry. He then obtained a MS in nutrition in 1973, working with Dr. Donald B. McCormick and Lemuel D. Wright. After working in the Department of Surgery at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse with Dr. Robert Hall, Dr. Feher returned to Cornell University to earn his Ph.D. in physiology under Dr. Robert Wasserman in 1977. He had postdoctoral training with Dr. F. Norman Briggs here in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and joined the department as faculty in 1979.
Teaching
Since 1999 I have been the Course Director and primary instructor in PHIS 309 / PHIS 310, entitled “Introductory Quantitative Physiology I and II”. This sequence is a year-long survey course directed towards sophomore and junior undergraduate students in Biomedical Engineering. This course is calculus-based and seeks to model or mathematically describe physiological systems as much as possible and instill an appreciation for the quantitative aspects of physiological systems. The course incorporates a laboratory that includes exercises in biochemical and physiological calculations, histology, osmosis, electronic network simulation of diffusion and cable properties of nerves, EEG, human reflexes, blood pressure and ECG, spirometry and joint anatomy. This course consumes most of my time during the Fall and Spring semesters. I am currently nearly finished with a text book for this course which has a quantitative approach to introductory physiology. I enjoy teaching this course and believe that over the course of the year I develop a good rapport with the BME students enrolled in it.
In addition PHIS 309 / PHIS 310, I teach muscle physiology in PHIS 501 and the MI curriculum, and participate in PHIS 612, Cardiovascular Physiology and an informal review course to the orthopedics residents. I am also the Course Director for PHIS 690, “Physiology Research Seminar”.
Research
I have been interested in many issues over the years, including:
Routes of calcium flux across the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum. Using isolated cardiac SR vesicles, I have focused on the pump-mediated unidirectional calcium influx and efflux coupled to unidirectional nucleotide fluxes, the ryanodine-sensitive efflux channel and the passive leak independent of pump and channel. Evidence from alkali-induced calcium release points to a second calcium channel that is ryanodine-insensitive. In my lab, oxalate-supported calcium uptake in isolated cardiomyocytes suggests there is a ryanodine-sensitive, thapsigargin-insensitve uptake that might originate from mitochondria.
Derangement of SR function in ischemia or ischemia-reperfusion injured hearts. In stunned hearts, there is an excellent correlation between recovery of mechanical function and oxalate-supported calcium uptake, but the explanation remains unclear.
Intestinal calcium transport and its stimulation by vitamin D. I first proposed that calbindin carried calcium across the cytoplasm of enterocytes, simultaneously enhancing calcium uptake at the apical membrane and calcium extrusion at the basolateral membrane. I measured facilitated diffusion by calbindin and simulated this mechanism theoretically. However, recent studies in other laboratories with calbindin knock out mice indicates that calcium transport occurs without calbindin, pointing the way towards other mechanisms that remain uninvestigated.
I remain interested in pursuing these and other avenues of research, but at the present time research training opportunities in my laboratory are not available.
Selected Publications
Feher JJ. The cardiac content of sarcoplasmic reticulum in the rat determined by calcium uptake rate, calcium oxalate capacity, ryanodine binding and thapsigargin titration. J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 30:1763-1772,1998. PubMed
Feher JJ, Waybright TD and Fine ML. Comparison of sarcoplasmic reticulum capabilities in toadfish (Opsanus tau) sonic muscle and rat fast twitch muscle. J. Mus. Res. Cell Motil. 19:661-674, 1998 PubMed
Feher JJ, Lee KN, and Wu QY. Ryanodine-sensitive thapsigargin-insensitive calcium uptake in rat ventricle homogenates. Molec. Cell. Biochem. 189:9-17, 1998 PubMed
Wu QY and Feher JJ. Effect of ischemia on the fraction of ryanodine-sensitive cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum. J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 29:1363-1373, 1997. PubMed
Feher JJ and Rebeyka IM. Cooling and pH jump induced calcium release from isolated cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum. Am. J. Physiol. 35:H962-H969, 1994 PubMed
Feher JJ, Fullmer CS and Wasserman RH. The role of facilitated diffusion of calcium by calbindin in intestinal calcium absorption. Am. J. Physiol. 262:C517-C526, 1992 PubMed