Professor

Research: Biochemistry
Ph.D. from University of Illinois, 1983

Contact Information:
     Office: R3-254 ARB
     Lab: R3-285 ARB
     Telephone: (352) 294-8381
     Email: bcain@ufl.edu

Biography

Professor Brian Cain earned his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Illinois in 1983. His graduate work focused on phospholipid metabolism. As a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, Dr. Cain began studying the F1F0 ATP synthase proton channel. In 1988, Dr. Cain joined the faculty of the University of Florida. He continued to work on the proton channel and showed plasticity of the enzyme’s peripheral stalk. In collaboration with Dr. Charles Wingo, Dr. Cain looked at expression of the renal H+,K+-ATPases and discovered that aldosterone stimulates endothelin-1 production in the kidney. Dr. Cain has served as Chair of the NIH Physical Biochemistry Study Section, Chair of the 2011 Bioenergetics Gordon Research Conference, and served two terms on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Research

Research in the Cain lab is divided between two distinct projects. One project investigates the F1F0 ATP synthase in both bacteria and yeast. The primary approach makes use of site-directed mutagenesis and enzymology to study the organization of the F0 subunits and the coupling of proton movement to ATP synthesis. The second project is a collaborative effort with Dr. Charles Wingo (Dept. of Medicine). The work investigates the action of the hormone  aldosterone on production of a second hormone, endothelin-1, in the kidney. The approach employs molecular biology methods to investigate expression of the endothelin-1.