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SUMMARY:The Spark of Life - Professor Frances Ashcroft\, University of Oxf
 ord
DTSTART:20120203T173000Z
DTEND:20120203T183000Z
UID:TALK30609@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Biography\n\nProfessor Frances Ashcroft FRS was educated at Ca
 mbridge University. She is currently a Royal Society Research Professor in
  the Department of Physiology\, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of 
 Oxford\, a Fellow of Trinity College\, Oxford\, and Director of OXION\, a 
 training and research programme on the integrative physiology of ion chann
 els (tiny membrane pores important for the function of all cells).  Her re
 search aims to elucidate how a rise in the blood glucose concentration sti
 mulates the release of insulin from the pancreatic beta-cells\, and what g
 oes wrong with this process in neonatal diabetes and type 2 diabetes. As a
  result of her work patients born with diabetes can now substitute oral dr
 ug therapy for insulin injections. She has published many scientific paper
 s\, a popular science work\, Life at the Extremes\, and is currently worki
 ng on a new book.\n\nAbstract\n\nWhat do a thoroughbred American quarter h
 orse known as Impressive\, a shivering pig\, a herd of 'fainting' goats\, 
 a child with cystic fibrosis and a person with a rare inherited form of di
 abetes have in common? The answer is that all of them have genetic errors 
 in a particular kind of protein\, known as an ion channel\, that regulates
  the electrical activity of the body. Humans are electrical machines and y
 our ability to read this page and to understand its message\, to laugh and
  cry\, to see and hear\, and to move your limbs\, is due to the electrical
  events taking place in the nerve cells in your brain and the muscle cells
  in your limbs. And that electrical activity is initiated and regulated by
  your ion channels. These little-known proteins are essential for every as
 pect of our lives\, from consciousness to fighting infection\, from sexual
  attraction to the beating of our hearts. They are also used as weapons of
  warfare by the immune system and by bacteria. It is therefore not surpris
 ing that a multitude of medicinal drugs work by regulating the activity of
  ion channels\, and that impaired ion channel function is responsible for 
 many human and animal diseases. This lecture charts the development of our
  understanding of animal electricity\, explains how it is generated by ion
  channels\, and discusses the ways that ion channels regulate our lives an
 d the dramatic consequences when things go wrong. It also shows how an und
 erstanding of the ion channels involved can lead to a new therapy for pati
 ents born with a rare form of diabetes. In brief\, its aim is to 'sing the
  body electric'.    
LOCATION:LMH\, Lady Mitchell Hall
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