STRESS, ENERGY and LIFE

DR. KAREN STINE

I'm into stress!

I'm interested in studying the effects of stress on cellular function, and particularly in the relationship between effects on energy metabolism and cell stress.  Most recently, I've studied the induction of stress proteins and thermotolerance in the nematode C. elegans following either heat shock or inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation (working with Dr. Glenn White).

Here is a little background reading (at a pretty basic level) on some of these topics:

• Cellular energy management:
  • The big picture on energy:  the nature of energy, energy in chemical systems
  • Cells and energy:   supplying the cell with energy, oxidation-reduction and phosphorylation reactions
  • Energy management processes:  photosynthesis and respiration
• Cell stress and cell death:
  • Heat shock or stress proteins:  the cell's response to stressful conditions
  • Apoptosis:  "programmed" cell death and the role of mitochondria
• Nematodes (our model organism)
  • What exactly is Caenorhabditis elegans anyway?

And some more advanced reading on topics concerning energy, stress, and cell death

• The mechanisms behind the mitochondrial permeability transition
• More on a few families of stress proteins, including hsp90, and the small hsps
• hsps, energy, and aging in C. elegans
• Cancer and energy metabolism

To read abstracts describing what we're doing, go to the online version of the Worm Breeder's Gazette, vol. 15(1) or vol. 15(3). For more information on other types of research with C.elegans, check out the Caenorhabditis elegans www server .

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