Earl Morris Endowed Lecture: “Role of Na/K ATPase in Monogenic Neuronal Disorders and Renal Protection”

Internationally-known researcher Anita Aperia, M.D., Ph.D., will be the keynote speaker at the Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Earl H. Morris Endowed Lectureship on Thursday, Oct. 22. The event is free and open to the public.
 
Aperia, professor of pediatrics at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, is known for her research on the energy efficiency of the body and its individual cells. Her pediatric cell and molecular biology lab is focused on understanding the many aspects of Na/K ATPase, which is known as the ion pump that maintains the electrochemical gradient across the plasma membrane. This enzyme has a central role in all mammalian cells and consumes more than 30 percent of all energy in the body.
 
Aperia’s research group has made several pioneering contributions to the understanding of specific function of neuronal Na/K ATPase. She is studying the functional consequences of disease mutations, using a variety of imaging and modeling approaches. The Na/K ATPase signal has been shown to play a major role in the protection against apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in fetal malnourishment, infections with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and chronic kidney disease.