Biochemical Moving Pictures: Homecoming Podcast
On Homecoming weekend, Professor Marc Hellerstein presented major themes of his current research in nutritional sciences, including working with complex systems, promising research in ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease), and harnessing the health benefits of caloric restriction and exercise.
Hear the entire lecture (52 mins):
Biochemical Moving Pictures
Or listen to excerpts:
Part I (18 mins)
Understanding complex systems
"My research is about answering the question, how do you navigate through complexity by seeing where you're going? In biology we are blessed with having the actual pathways of biochemistry to guide us through enormously complex systems."
Part II (8:30 Min)
Promising research in ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease)
Using known, over-the-counter drugs to combat microtubial turnover in ALS patients, and thereby slow the degenerative process
Part III (20 Min)
Caloric restriction: reducing cell turnover and extending life-span
"Caloric restriction is the only intervention ever demonstrated to extend the maximum lifespan of warm-blooded animals"
Part IV (5:45 Min)
The effects of exercise on mitochondria
"If you put a rat on a treadmill, within the first week, they quadruple their mitochondria production...it turns out that the pattern of running is...as important as the amount of running."