Education
1998
Ph.D. (Nutrition)
Texas Tech University
1994
M.S. (Zoology)
Oklahoma State University
1990
B.S. (Biomedical Sciences)
Oklahoma State University
Postdoctoral Research Experience
2002-2004
NRSA (NIAAA/NIH) Postdoctoral Fellow,
Texas Tech University HSC (Pharmacology & Neuroscience).
1998-2002
Postdoctoral Research Associate,
Texas Tech University HSC (Pharmacology)
Funding
NIH/NIAAA 4/01/2002 – 9/30/2004
NIH/NIAAA 5/01/2006 – 4/30/2008
Intramural Grant CHS 0809 4/2008 - 4/2009
NIH/NINDS 8/01/2008 – 6/30/2011
Selected Publications
Ethanol-induced modulation of NOS-2 expression in human astrocytoma (A172) cells. R.L. Davis, J. Dertein and P.J. Syapin. Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research 26:1404-1411; 2002.
Identification of cis-regulatory regions necessary for robust NOS2 promoter activity in glial cells: Indirect role for NF-kB. A.C. Sanchez, R.L. Davis, P.J. Syapin. Journal of Neurochemistry 86: 1379-1390; 2003.
Chronic ethanol inhibits CXC chemokine ligand 10 production in human A172 astroglia and astroglial-mediated leukocyte chemotaxis. R.L. Davis, P.J. Syapin. Neuroscience Letters 362: 220-225; 2004.
Acute ethanol exposure modulates expression of inducible nitric-oxide synthase in human astroglia: Evidence for a transcriptional mechanism. R.L. Davis, P.J. Syapin. Alcohol 32(3):195-202; 2004.
Ethanol increases nuclear factor-kB p65 activity in human astroglia. R.L. Davis, P.J. Syapin. Neuroscience Letters 371:128-132; 2004.
Effects of mechanistically distinct NF-kB inhibitors on glial inducible nitric-oxide synthase expression. R.L. Davis, A.C. Sanchez, D.J. Lindley, P.J. Syapin. Nitric Oxide 12: 200-209; 2005.
Interactions of alcohol and nitric-oxide synthase in the brain. R.L. Davis and P.J. Syapin. Brain Research Reviews 49: 494-504; 2005.
The opioid antagonist, β-funaltrexamine, inhibits chemokine expression in human astroglial cells. R.L. Davis, D. Buck, N. Saffarian, C.W. Stevens. Journal of Neuroimmunology 186:141-149; 2007.
The Oct DNA motif participates in the alcohol inhibition of the inducible nitric oxide synthase gene promoter in rat C6 glioma cells. A.C. Sanchez, R.L. Davis, P.J. Syapin. Brain Research 1179:16-27; 2007.
β-Funaltrexamine inhibits inducible nitric-oxide synthase expression in human astroglial cells. R.L. Davis, D.J. Buck, N. Saffarian, S. Mohan, U. Desilva, S.C. Fernando, C.W. Stevens. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology 3:150-153; 2008.
Importance of alcohol induced modulation of nitric-oxide synthase in the brain. R.L. Davis and P.J. Syapin. In Research on the Neurobiology of Alcohol Use Disorders. (L. Sher, Ed.), Nova Science, New York (2008).
Central Nervous System Inflammation: Astroglia and Ethanol. R.L. Davis. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (M. Binder, N. Hirokawa, U. Windhorst, Eds.), Springer, New York, pp. 638-641 (2009).
Pro-inflammatory cytokines and HIV-1 synergistically enhance CXCL10 expression in human astrocytes. R. Williams, N.K. Dhillon, S.T. Hedge, H. Yao, S. Callen, F. Peng, Y. Chebloune, R.L. Davis, S.J. Buch. Glia (in press, 2009).
Research Interests
Neuroinflammation: modulation of proinflammatory pathways in human glial cells by various drugs and dietary compounds.
Non-academic Interests
Soccer and Golf
