Lunedì 11 marzo | Ore 14:30
Villa San Saverio, Via Valdisavoia 9 (CT)
INTERVIENE
Jay Sibbitts – University of Kansas
Dr. Sibbitts is a postdoctoral research fellow at working with Dr. Susan M. Lunte at the University of Kansas and is currently researching and developing methods to measure reactive nitrogen and oxygen species in brain cells using microfluidic devices and microchip electrophoresis. Dr. Sibbitts received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Truman State University in 2014. He then went on to attend Kansas State University in the doctoral program in analytical chemistry where he worked with Dr. Christopher T. Culbertson. During his doctoral studies he worked on developing microfluidic devices to perform single-cell analysis to study cellular heterogeneity in T-lymphocytes and microglia. After completing his PhD in 2021, Dr. Sibbitts was selected to be a postdoctoral research fellow through the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) program receiving a dual appointmentworking as a researcher at the University of Kansas and serving as an instructor in biochemistry at a local native American college, Haskell Indian Nations University. While working at the University of Kansas, Dr. Sibbitts has also engaged in an international collaboration with Dr. Giuseppe Caruso working on developing novel in vitro model systems to study Alzheimer’s disease and neuroinflammation.
ABSTRACT
The talk will discuss issues related to the biological activity of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species (RNOS), which are a class of molecules that are produced by cells during both normal physiological processesas well as during inflammation by immune cells. Like their name suggests, RNOS are smallmolecules comprised of nitrogen and/or oxygenthat are highly reactive because they carry an unpaired electron.Aberrant production of RNOS is associated with a several pathologies, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer,diabetes, among others. RNOSs cause harm by reacting with biomolecules like fatty acids, DNA, and proteins altering their structure and biological activity. Their reactivity also make RNOS difficult to measure due to their short half life which is on the order of seconds. The biological activity of RNOS in health and disease will be discussed as well as some strategies for their measurement.
