Faculty Profile


Michael Becker
Section of Rheumatology
Professor of Medicine
Emeritus

Academic Interests

Dr. Becker’s research is focused on the regulation of purine and pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis, with particular interest in genetic and biochemical mechanisms, underlying production of the key allosteric regulatory substrate PRPP.
 

Clinical Interests

Gout, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, purine metabolic disorders.
 

Publications

  • Becker, M.A., Kisicki, J., Khosravan, R., Wu, J., Mulford, D., Hunt, B., MacDonald, P.A., and Joseph-Ridge, N. Febuxostat (TMX-67), a novel, non-purine, selective inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, is safe and decreases serum urate in healthy volunteers. Nucleosides, Nucleotides, Nucl Acids 23:35-40, 2004
  • Garcia-Pavia, P., Torres, R.J., Rivero, M., Ahmed, M., Garcia-Puig, J., and Becker, M.A. Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase overactivity as a cause of uric acid overproduction in a young woman. Arthritis Rheum. 48: 2036-2041, 2003.
  • Rezai, K.A., Patel, S.C., Eliott, D., and Becker, M.A. Rheumatoid hyperviscosity syndrome: reversibility of microvascular abnormalities after treatment. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 134; 120-132, 2002.
  • Becker, M.A. Hyperuricemia and gout. In: The Genetic Basis of Common Diseases, 2nd edition. (King, R.A., Rotter, J.I., and Motulsky, A.G., editors) Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 518-536, 2002.
  • Becker, M.A. Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase and the regulation of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate production in human cells. Prog. Nucl. Acid Res. Mol. Biol. 69:115-148, 2001.

Training