"The Mitochondrial Paradigm for Disease Susceptibility: Prehistoric Events Influencing Contemporary Disease Risk"

The next Distinguished Scientist Seminar will be presented by Dr. Scott Ballinger on April 22, 2010, at 4 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building auditorium. His seminar is titled "The Mitochondrial Paradigm for Disease Susceptibility: Prehistoric Events Influencing Contemporary Disease Risk."

Currently, Dr. Ballinger is associate professor of pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

Dr. Ballinger’s research focuses on environmental cardiology, free radical biology, and mitochondrial function. There is growing evidence that many forms of disease can be initiated by free radical mediated events or energetic deficits that can be related to cellular stress and damage. A cellular source and target of free radical production and damage is the mitochondrion.

Dr. Ballinger received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Emory University. He completed postdoctoral training in genetics and toxicology at the University of Vermont, initially as an environmental pathology fellow and later as a Department of Energy Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Fellow.

For more information on Dr. Ballinger's research, visit http://138.26.61.118/depts/MEB/SOMResearchFaculty/currentfacultydata.asp?s_lname=ballinger&s_keyword=&s_fname=scott&s_Department_Name=&s_ResearchTitle=&ID=sballinger . 

For additional information, contact Natalie Kent at 461-1548.