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| Institute of Mitochondrial Biology ARCHIVE |
| Position Announcement Crouser named to Editorial Board JCCM Pfeiffer Guest Speaker at IGR in Japan NIH/NHLBI Grant for Rita Alevriadou
The goal of this project is to characterize the mitochondrial (dys)function in cultured coronary arterial endothelial cells exposed to either fluid shear stress or an in vitro protocol of ischemia/reperfusion and to test potential therapeutic strategies, such as mitochondria-targeted antioxidants, that may protect the coronary endothelium from reperfusion injury. NHLBI Grant for Yeong-Renn Chen
Yeong-Renn Chen recently received a five year NIH grant entitled "Myocardial Injury Associated with Mitochondria-derived Oxygen Free Radical(s)". This grant was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. TSFRE Grant for Maria Favazza
Maria Favazza recently received a two year TSFRE grant entitled "Post Conditioning, Free Oxygen Radical Generation and Mitochondrial Function". This grant was funded by the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education. Alcon Laboratories Inc. Grant to Pfeiffer
Nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have many applications in medicine, including their use topically to alleviate pain and inflammation in the eye. As a new phase of our collaborations with Alcon Laboratories we are investigating the potential of these compounds to promote mitochondrial dysfunction. The goal is to reveal particular members of the NSAIDs family which have a minimum potential to generate toxicity and attendant side effects in an ocular environment. Mitochondrial Research Community Looses A Senior Member Click here for Dr. Brierley's CV Gerald P. Brierley, Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, passed away on October 22, 2006 from prostate cancer. He was a man of integrity and a highly accomplished scientist who will be missed by all who knew him. Dr. Brierley’s activities initiated research in mitochondrial biology at Ohio Sate University and culminated ultimately in the creation of the institute to which we all belong. For this reason, and because many of you are too young to have known him personally, I am summarizing his career and scientific accomplishments here on the Institute’s web site. Additional information can be found at www.medicine.osu.edu/mcbiochem, which is the web sight maintained by the department that he once chaired.
Gerry joined the Department of Physiological Chemistry at Ohio State in 1964 as an Assistant Professor. He rose rapidly through the ranks, attaining the position of Professor in 1969, and of Chairman 1980. The latter position he held until his retirement in 1995. Throughout his career at Ohio State Gerry maintained a high level of accomplishment in all three categories of the academic endeavor. As a teacher at the graduate level, he offered an advanced course in bioenergetics which covered oxidative phosphorylation, photosynthesis, and the associated aspects of metabolism. He directed and lectured in a course entitled Integration of Metabolism which was and remains one the required courses in the campus wide biochemistry program. He also lectured extensively in the Medical School and in the School of Dentistry. Fourteen students conducted their Ph.D. thesis research under Gerry’s direction and eleven investigators worked with him as post doctoral fellows. In the area of service, Gerry served on two standing NIH study sections, reviewed research proposals for the Veterans Administration of the United States, and was particularly active in service to the American Heart Association. He was an Editorial Board member for the journals Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, the Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, and Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. At Ohio State he served on numerous committees at the departmental, college and university levels. These included the Graduate Studies Committee (departmental), the Committee on Administration (college), and the Human Subjects Review Committee (university). He was also active in several national and international professional societies. All in all, Gerry and his coworkers produced 169 peer reviewed research publications, book chapters and review articles. Most of these addressed aspects of mitochondrial biology; however they included other subjects such as the development of analytical methods for monitoring free metal ion concentrations in biological systems, and others directed at the importance of Ca2+ in mechanisms of cell injury. In the latter area, Gerry and his coworkers produced the first successful methods for maintaining cardiac myocytes in culture. The approaches they developed remain the basis of how cardiac cell culture is done today and have led to the large literature which now exists on cell death, cell injury, and the repair of injured cells in heart. A further examination of their publications (see the linked listing below) leads the reader to appreciate the importance that Gerry placed on originality in research and shows the no nonsense approach which he took in this endeavor, as well as his other areas of professional activity. The importance of research and the academic endeavor to human progress cannot be overemphasized. Nevertheless, the values and procedures by which these activities are pursued have been threatened repeatedly throughout history, by elements as powerful as organized religion and nation states. Our time is no different in many ways, resulting in an uncertain professional environment. As you endeavor to maintain your focus and practice the profession under these conditions, and to do all else that is required, you may find it reassuring to keep the life and accomplishments of Gerald Brierley in mind. This is true for me and to aid others in doing so I have attached his Curriculum Vita for your examination. His publications have been linked to the Ohio State University electronic library system where this was possible. Douglas R. Pfeiffer Ph.D.
IMB
SEMINAR - 19 January 2006 PCMB
694: Organelle Biogenesis IMB
SEMINAR
- 1 December 2006 CONFERENCE
- 1 December 2006 |
Gerry was born in Ogallala Nebraska on
August 14, 1931. He attended college at The University
of Maryland, served in the United States Air Force attaining
the rank of Captain, and later returned to the University of
Maryland where in 1960 he received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry. From
1960 to 1964 he did postdoctoral work with Professor David
E. Green at the world renowned Enzyme Institute, University
of Wisconsin. One of Professor Green’s many research
interests was the mechanism of oxidative phosphorylation and
it was in this environment that Gerry began his work on mitochondria. To
further set the stage for our younger members, it is useful
to recall that Peter Mitchell’s chemiosmotic theory of
energy transduction in mitochondria, for which he later received
a Nobel Prize, had just recently been put forth and had met
with initial skepticism from most of the great men who were
then working in the area. There was no fluid mosaic model
of membrane structure, controversy about basic structural features
of mitochondria, and uncertainty about where within these organelles
oxidative phosphorylation occurs. Gerry undertook to
determine if phospholipids are required to carryout oxidative
phosphorylation and concluded that they are. This was
important support for tenets of the chemiosmotic hypothesis,
which was followed by additional support over the years from
Gerry’s studies of ion transport by heart mitochondria.IMB Home | Research | Members | Seminars | Meetings | Contact Us
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