• Research Assistant Professor

• Mitochondria and Metabolism Center

•  Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

Research Interests

C. elegans provides an attractive model to study genetic pathways. I have taken an unbiased genetic screening approach to understand genetic pathways that are conserved in humans. My hope is that this approach will contribute to the development of effective therapies to a variety of human diseases. Currently, I am studying the biology of hypoxic cellular injury.

Honors and Awards

American Heart Association pre-doctoral fellowship: 2003-2004.
American Heart Association pre-doctoral fellowship: 2005 – competitive renewal.
American Physiological Society: Excellence in renal research predoctoral award.
Iowa Cardiovascular Center post-doctoral fellowship: 3/2006 – 10/2007.
American Heart Association post-doctoral fellowship: 7/2014 – 6/2016

Selected Publications

Flynn AN, Itani OA, Moninger TO, Welsh MJ.  Acute regulation of tight junction ion selectivity in human airway epithelia.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 3;106(9):3591-6.

Itani OA, Chen JH, Karp PH, Keshavjee S, Parekh K, Klesney-Tait J, Zabner J, Welsh MJ.Human cystic fibrosis airway epithelia have reduced Cl- conductance but not increased Na+ conductance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jun 21;108(25):10260-5.

Chen AT, Guo C, Itani OA, Budaitis BG, Williams TW, Hopkins CE, McEachin RC, Pande M, Grant AR, Yoshina S, Mitani S, Hu  PJ.  Longevity Genes Revealed by Integrative Analysis of Isoform-Specific daf-16/FoxO Mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics. 2015 Oct;201(2):613-29.

Itani OA, Flibotte S, Dumas KJ, Moerman DG, Hu PJ. Chromoanasynthetic Genomic Rearrangement Identified in a N-Ethyl-N-Nitrosourea (ENU) Mutagenesis Screen in Caenorhabditis elegans. G3 (Bethesda). 2015 Dec 1;6(2):351-6.

Itani OA, Flibotte S, Dumas KJ, Guo C, Blumenthal T, Hu PJ. N-Ethyl-N-Nitrosourea (ENU) Mutagenesis Reveals an Intronic Residue Critical for Caenorhabditis elegans 3′ Splice Site Function in Vivo. G3 (Bethesda). 2016 Jun 1;6(6):1751-6.