Edwards John Email & Phone Number

My career has moved from the human experience to the molecular; towards a greater understanding of the pathological processes underlying heart dysfunction. More recently I have been funded by NASA to look for Countermeasures to Cosmic Radiation.Over the past decade most of these studies have focused on diabetic cardiomyopathy. I have established that diabetic-induced damage of the myocardium is in part a consequence of a decline of mtDNA integrity leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. Diabetic-induced mtDNA damage is the result of a shift in the activation/inhibition status of the mitochondrial topoisomerases. Separate from a direct impact of oxidative stress on mtDNA, ROS-induced alteration of mitochondrial topoisomerase function appears to accelerate and propagate an increase in mtDNA damage. Also because topoisomerases are the target of both antibiotic and antineoplastic drug treatments, a more complete understanding the interaction of diabetes with those clinical therapies is critical. Mitochondrial dysfunction has a significant role in the development of several other pathologies including alcoholism, cancer, neurodegeneration, and radiation-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. In addition to diabetic cardiomyopathy, I made similar observations for mitochondrial topoisomerase dysfunction contributing to heart cell failure in alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

Listed skills include Western Blotting, University Teaching, Teaching, Animal Models, and 14 others.