THE IRON SIDE OF LIFE and DEATH
from Chemistry to Clinic
The course deals with iron, the most abundant transition metal in Biology that is essential for key functions such as respiration and energy production, DNA-replication, DNA modulation, synthesis of neurotransmitters and O2 transportation. The metal has also a major role in human diseases associated with iron deficiency (nutritional, acquired or inherited) or iron overload of lethal character (genetic hemochromatosis, transfusional siderosis, neurodegenerative disorders).
How was iron generated and distributed in our planet and what does that tell us about the history of life in our planet,
Why is iron so poorly accessible to living entities despite its abundance,
Why does iron have to be mobilized and transferred across compartments occluded within special carriers like siderophores or protein structures?
How is iron involved in oxygen sensing by all animals?
Why is it so toxic when not properly handled and how does that explain major human diseases such as thalassemias, hemochromatosis, Parkinson's disease and multiple inflammatory conditions that lead to iron-deficiency anemia’ including SARS-Covid 19.
How is iron involved in programmed cell death (ferroptosis) in cancer and neurodegeneration.
Why are so many people anemic not just because of nutritional reasons but because of chronic disorders (genetic or acquired).
Iron is a double sword (absolutely required for life but extremely toxic when nor properly handled by organisms). Biological handling of iron depends on intricate mechanisms of recognition and homeostasis at the cellular and organismic level.
This fascinating chapter of cell and organism Physiology and Biochemistry and Pathology, unraveled in the last 20 years, will be covered essentially from the metal in solution where life started to its toxic (lethal) accumulation that demands clinical intervention. Our aim is to provide the chemical and biological basis that will assist us in understanding and managing the most common (and often overlooked) human functions and metal-driven disorders that affect the human population worldwide, more than any other element in our planet.
from Chemistry to Clinic
The course deals with iron, the most abundant transition metal in Biology that is essential for key functions such as respiration and energy production, DNA-replication, DNA modulation, synthesis of neurotransmitters and O2 transportation. The metal has also a major role in human diseases associated with iron deficiency (nutritional, acquired or inherited) or iron overload of lethal character (genetic hemochromatosis, transfusional siderosis, neurodegenerative disorders).
How was iron generated and distributed in our planet and what does that tell us about the history of life in our planet,
Why is iron so poorly accessible to living entities despite its abundance,
Why does iron have to be mobilized and transferred across compartments occluded within special carriers like siderophores or protein structures?
How is iron involved in oxygen sensing by all animals?
Why is it so toxic when not properly handled and how does that explain major human diseases such as thalassemias, hemochromatosis, Parkinson's disease and multiple inflammatory conditions that lead to iron-deficiency anemia’ including SARS-Covid 19.
How is iron involved in programmed cell death (ferroptosis) in cancer and neurodegeneration.
Why are so many people anemic not just because of nutritional reasons but because of chronic disorders (genetic or acquired).
Iron is a double sword (absolutely required for life but extremely toxic when nor properly handled by organisms). Biological handling of iron depends on intricate mechanisms of recognition and homeostasis at the cellular and organismic level.
This fascinating chapter of cell and organism Physiology and Biochemistry and Pathology, unraveled in the last 20 years, will be covered essentially from the metal in solution where life started to its toxic (lethal) accumulation that demands clinical intervention. Our aim is to provide the chemical and biological basis that will assist us in understanding and managing the most common (and often overlooked) human functions and metal-driven disorders that affect the human population worldwide, more than any other element in our planet.
- Teacher: Yoav Cabantchik
- Teacher: Rachel Nechushtai