Lonny R. Levin

For my PhD, i studied cAMP dependent protein kinase (PKA) in yeast at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. During my post doctoral training, I studied the adenylyl cyclase encoding the Rutabaga learning and memory gene in Drosophila at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Distinctions: 

• Isolating soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC; ADCY10)
• Identifying bicarbonate regulation of sAC
• Determining that sAC related enzymes are also bicarbonate regulated defining this family of enzymes as Nature's carbon dioxide, pH, bicarbonate sensors
• Demonstrating sAC's essential functions as the "on" switch in mammalian sperm
• Demonstrating in vivo proof-of-principle that sAC inhibitors provide on-demand male contraception in mice.

Selected Publications: 

• Balbach, M., Rossetti, T., Ferreira, J. et al. On-demand male contraception via acute inhibition of soluble adenylyl cyclase. Nat Commun 14, 637 (2023).
• Hess, K. C., Jones, B. H., Marquez, B., Chen, Y., Ord, T. S., Kamenetsky, M., Miyamoto, C., Zippin, J. H., Kopf, G. S., Suarez, S. S., Levin, L. R., Williams, C. J., Buck, J., & Moss, S. B. (2005). The "soluble" adenylyl cyclase in sperm mediates multiple signaling events required for fertilization. Developmental cell, 9(2), 249–259.
• Kleinboelting, S., Diaz, A., Moniot, S., van den Heuvel, J., Weyand, M., Levin, L. R., Buck, J., & Steegborn, C. (2014). Crystal structures of human soluble adenylyl cyclase reveal mechanisms of catalysis and of its activation through bicarbonate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(10), 3727–3732.
• Chen, Y., Cann, M. J., Litvin, T. N., Iourgenko, V., Sinclair, M. L., Levin, L. R., & Buck, J. (2000). Soluble adenylyl cyclase as an evolutionarily conserved bicarbonate sensor. Science (New York, N.Y.), 289(5479), 625–628.
• Buck, J., Sinclair, M. L., Schapal, L., Cann, M. J., & Levin, L. R. (1999). Cytosolic adenylyl cyclase defines a unique signaling molecule in mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96(1), 79–84.