[bioundgrd] Openings Available for Advance UG Course: "The Radical Consequences of Respiration: Reactive Oxygen Species in Aging and Disease"

[MacKenzie Outlund]

Spaces are still available for the advanced undergraduate course  7.343.
"The Radical 
Consequences of Respiration: Reactive Oxygen Species in Aging and Disease".
This 6 unit class
currently meets in 68-151 from 11 am - 1 pm on Thursdays, but the timing is
still flexible. 
Please email Priya Rai at rai at wi.mit.edu if you are interested in
registering. For more
information and course syllabus, please visit:
http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/7/fa07/7.343/index.html

Course Summary
The emergence of oxygen was responsible for the origin of much of life as we
know it, 
coinciding with the evolution of eukaryotic and multicellular organisms.
However, 
environmental oxygen was highly toxic to almost an entire subset of species,
namely the 
anaerobes, making oxygen arguably the most fatal pollutant in the existence
of the Earth.  
To deal with the damaging effects of oxygen radicals generated during
mitochondrial 
respiration, aerobic organisms have had to develop protective mechanisms,
such as 
antioxidant enzymes, redox regulatory proteins and repair pathways.  At
controlled levels, 
reactive oxygen species (ROS) perform important biological functions, for
example acting as 
signal transducers in mitogenic pathways and in mediating the immune
inflammatory 
response.  However, excessive levels of oxygen radicals have been implicated
in a wide array 
of human diseases, ranging from premature aging to cancer.  In this course,
we will discuss 
the physiological consequences of oxidative stress and altered ROS levels,
with emphasis on 
understanding the complex dual role of ROS as both cellular signaling
molecules and cellular
damaging agents.  To understand how we are protected from the intrinsic
reactivity of 
oxygen, we will start with a survey of basic oxygen radical biochemistry
followed by a 
discussion of the mechanisms of action of cellular as well as dietary
antioxidants.  After
considering the normal physiological roles of oxidants, we will examine the
effects of 
elevated ROS and a failure of cellular redox capacity on the rate of
organismal and cellular
aging as well as on the onset and progression of several major diseases that
are often age-
related.  Topics will include ROS-induced effects on stem cell regeneration,
insulin 
resistance, heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer.  The role
of antioxidants 
in potential therapeutic strategies for modulating ROS levels will also be
discussed.

------------------------------
Priyamvada Rai, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Weinberg Lab
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical
Research/MIT

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