Free radicals are part of normal metabolism and play a role in the pathology of important chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis. The focus of our research is to understand in detail how the beneficial effects of a free radical, nitric oxide, are elicited in the vasculature and how this changes in the disease process. An important part of these studies is to understand how NO can act as an antioxidant in a cellular context. To dissect this problem the effects of NO on the transcriptional regulation of important antioxidant enzymes controlling synthesis of intracellular antioxidants is being determined. These projects also relate to ongoing collaborations to define the effects of NO on mitochondrial function in cardiovascular disease and control of cell matrix formation in diabetic nephropathy.
1980 Ph.D. conferred by the University of Essex, Colchester, UK
1980-1983 Research Associate, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
1983-1985 Lecturer (Assistant Professor), University of Tsukuba Medical School, Ibaraki, Japan
1985-1995 Senior Biochemist, Dept. of Biochemical Sciences, Wellcome Research Lab, Beckenham, UK
1995-Pres Associate Professor, Dept. of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL