Matt Brien Dodson

Most of my scientific career has focused on identifying mechanisms that underly autophagy dysfunction and cell death in disease relevant contexts. Specifically, I have identified key mechanisms by which autophagy inhibition results in excessive post-translational modifications (i.e., carbonylation and O-GlcNAcylation) that promote pro-pathogenic metabolic changes that drive the progression of neurodegeneration, cancer, and type II diabetes. My current work focuses on genetic, dietary, and environmental factors that enhance the risk of developing type II diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders through autophagy dysfunction, as well as studying the role of ferroptosis in promoting both diabetic and neurodegenerative cell death. Our work has shown that blocking the final step of autophagy, either via chronic exposure to the environmental toxicant arsenic, or genetic ablation of a key autophagy fusion protein Snap 29, results in significant changes to glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, serum triglyceride levels, and tissue-specific diabetic phenotypes in mice. Importantly, while we have identified the critical nature of proper autophagic function in preventing the development of diabetic outcomes, we have only just begun to scratch the surface of understanding the mechanisms that promote these pro-diabetic shifts in energy homeostasis and metabolism, particularly in a tissue or exposure-specific context. We also recently started a neuronal ferroptosis project investigating if pathogenic accumulation of alpha-synuclein promotes ferroptotic death to drive parkinsonian phenotypes, as well as assessing the relevance of arsenic as an environmental risk factor for promoting Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease onset and progression. Each step in my scientific career has built upon my previous expertise, as well as opened me up to new research techniques, interests, and opportunities, which I aim to continue in my time as an early career faculty.

Peer Reviewed Publications

Chen, Wei-Tai; Dodson, Matthew (2023. ) The untapped potential of targeting NRF2 in neurodegenerative disease.Frontiers in aging, , 4 ,1270838 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Zhang, Donna D (2023. ) The pyrimidinosome is cancer's Achilles' heel.Nature cell biology, , 25 (6 ) ,798-799 More Information

Shakya, Aryatara; Dodson, Matthew; Artiola, Janick F; Ramirez-Andreotta, Monica; Root, Robert A; Ding, Xinxin; Chorover, Jon; Maier, Raina M (2023. ) Arsenic in Drinking Water and Diabetes.Water, , 15 (9 ) , More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Chen, Jinjing; Shakya, Aryatara; Anandhan, Annadurai; Zhang, Donna D (2023. ) The dark side of NRF2 in arsenic carcinogenesis.Advances in pharmacology (San Diego, Calif.), , 96 ,47-69 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Shakya, Aryatara; Anandhan, Annadurai; Chen, Jinjing; Garcia, Joe G N; Zhang, Donna D (2022. ) NRF2 and Diabetes: The Good, the Bad, and the Complex.Diabetes, , 71 (12 ) ,2463-2476 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Dai, Wujing; Anandhan, Annadurai; Schmidlin, Cody J; Liu, Pengfei; Wilson, Nathan C; Wei, Yongyi; Kitamura, Naoya; Galligan, James J; Ooi, Aikseng; Chapman, Eli; Zhang, Donna D (2022. ) CHML is an NRF2 target gene that regulates mTOR function.Molecular oncology, , 16 (8 ) ,1714-1727 More Information

Liu, Pengfei; Dodson, Matthew; Li, Hui; Schmidlin, Cody J; Shakya, Aryatara; Wei, Yongyi; Garcia, Joe G N; Chapman, Eli; Kiela, Pawel R; Zhang, Qing-Yu; White, Eileen; Ding, Xinxin; Ooi, Aikseng; Zhang, Donna D (2021. ) Non-canonical NRF2 activation promotes a pro-diabetic shift in hepatic glucose metabolism.Molecular metabolism, , 51 ,101243 More Information

Anandhan, Annadurai; Nguyen, Nhat; Syal, Arjun; Dreher, Luke A; Dodson, Matthew; Zhang, Donna D; Madhavan, Lalitha (2021. ) NRF2 Loss Accentuates Parkinsonian Pathology and Behavioral Dysfunction in Human α-Synuclein Overexpressing Mice.Aging and disease, , 12 (4 ) ,964-982 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Castro-Portuguez, Raul; Zhang, Donna D (2019. ) NRF2 plays a critical role in mitigating lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis.Redox biology, , 23 ,101107 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; de la Vega, Montserrat Rojo; Cholanians, Aram B; Schmidlin, Cody J; Chapman, Eli; Zhang, Donna D (2019. ) Modulating NRF2 in Disease: Timing Is Everything.Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology, , 59 ,555-575 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Liu, Pengfei; Jiang, Tao; Ambrose, Andrew J; Luo, Gang; Rojo de la Vega, Montserrat; Cholanians, Aram B; Wong, Pak Kin; Chapman, Eli; Zhang, Donna D (2018. ) Increased O-GlcNAcylation of SNAP29 Drives Arsenic-Induced Autophagic Dysfunction.Molecular and cellular biology, , 38 (11 ) , More Information

Dodson, Matthew; de la Vega, Montserrat Rojo; Harder, Bryan; Castro-Portuguez, Raul; Rodrigues, Silvia D; Wong, Pak Kin; Chapman, Eli; Zhang, Donna D (2018. ) Low-level arsenic causes proteotoxic stress and not oxidative stress.Toxicology and applied pharmacology, , 341 ,106-113 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Wani, Willayat Y; Redmann, Matthew; Benavides, Gloria A; Johnson, Michelle S; Ouyang, Xiaosen; Cofield, Stacey S; Mitra, Kasturi; Darley-Usmar, Victor; Zhang, Jianhua (2017. ) Regulation of autophagy, mitochondrial dynamics, and cellular bioenergetics by 4-hydroxynonenal in primary neurons.Autophagy, , 13 (11 ) ,1828-1840 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Liang, Qiuli; Johnson, Michelle S; Redmann, Matthew; Fineberg, Naomi; Darley-Usmar, Victor M; Zhang, Jianhua (2013. ) Inhibition of glycolysis attenuates 4-hydroxynonenal-dependent autophagy and exacerbates apoptosis in differentiated SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.Autophagy, , 9 (12 ) ,1996-2008 More Information

Dodson, Matthew; Darley-Usmar, Victor; Zhang, Jianhua (2013. ) Cellular metabolic and autophagic pathways: traffic control by redox signaling.Free radical biology & medicine, , 63 ,207-21 More Information

A, Anandhan; W, Chen; N, Nguyen; L, Madhavan; M, Dodson; Zhang, D D (2022. ) α-Syn overexpression, NRF2 suppression, and enhanced ferroptosis create a vicious cycle of neuronal loss in Parkinson's disease.Free radical biology & medicine, , 192 ,130-140 More Information

2005-2010 MS, Auburn University, ,

2010-2015 PhD, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, ,

2015-2020 Postdoctoral Researcher, The University of Arizona, ,