The use of deuterium oxide to assess long-term cellular and subcellular turnover 
8 March 2012
1pm - 2pm
Venue: Seminar Room, Level 1 Liggins Institute 2-6 Park Avenue, Grafton
Host: Liggins Institute
Cost: No charge
Contact info: Dr Dongxu Liu ext 89603 or Dr Martin de Bock ext 82769
Contact email: dx.liu@auckland.ac.nz; m.debock@auckland.ac.nz
Liggins Institute academic seminar presented by Dr Benjamin Miller, Colorado State University
All University staff and students are welcome
Refreshments will be served
During chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and aging, proteins are susceptible to damage which propagates further damage in a vicious cycle. The ability to turnover proteins in order to break down damaged proteins and replace them with new proteins can help slow organelle and tissue deterioration. Assessment of in vivo protein turnover is subject to constraints inherent in stable isotope techniques and is often limited to 4-8 hr snapshots. The use of a heavy isotope of water, deuterium oxide, offers opportunities to circumvent some of these limitations so long-term in vivo protein turnover can be assessed. In this talk Dr Miller will explain the methodology and pdiscuss how these techniques can be used to assess cellular and subcellular turnover. Special attention will be given to mitochondrial biogenesis since this has not been appropriately assessed in the past.
Biosketch
Dr Miller graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995 and obtained his MSc degree in kinesiology in 1998. After he finished his PhD at the University of California – Berkeley in 2002, he received a Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Sports Medicine, Denmark. Dr Miller was a lecturer in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Auckland from 2004 to 2006 and an honorary member of the Liggins Institute. He then went to the USA and became an Assistant Professor at the Colorado State University in 2007. Dr Miller’s laboratory examines questions related to aging and age-related chronic conditions. The very basic questions of why and how cells and tissues age are central to all projects. Current research focuses on the role of mitochondria and oxidative stress in the aging process in a variety of tissues. The laboratory uses a variety of models from in vitro cell culture to animal models,to in vivo human studies and strives to translate basic findings into clinical applications.
