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SUMMARY:POSTPONED: Energy and Life - Prof. Sir John Ernest Walker\, MRC Mi
 tochondrial Biology Unit &amp\; Nobel Prize Laureate
DTSTART:20130226T200000Z
DTEND:20130226T211500Z
UID:TALK42931@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mareike Herzog
DESCRIPTION:Come to enjoy this interesting talk and join us for a wine rec
 eption afterwards. The talk is FREE for members and £3 for others.\n\n---
 ------------\n\n"Energy and Life" if a talk in which the director if the M
 RC Mitochondrial Biology Unit and the Nobel Prize Laureate will describe m
 itochondria\, their work and how the factory and molecular turbines are li
 nked together. He will also say what happens when the process goes wrong.\
 n\n---------------\n\n\nThe extraction of energy from food and its convers
 ion to a form that the body can use to provide fuel for all its activities
 \, is essential for life. The key steps take place in the mitochondria\, t
 iny organelles found in most cells. The mitochondria are surrounded by two
  hydrophobic membranes\, and they use energy released by the controlled bu
 rning (oxidation) of sugars and fats to build up an excess of protons (hyd
 rogen ions) between the two membranes.  Almost all of the oxygen that we b
 reathe in is consumed in this burning process.  The mitochondria build up 
 the proton excess with molecular pumps embedded in the inner membranes to 
 displace protons from their internal spaces.  Just as water stored in a da
 m provides energy to drive turbines in hydro-electric power stations\, the
  mitochondria use the excess of protons to drive molecular turbines in the
 ir inner membranes.  These turbines are connected to and supply power to m
 olecular factories that turn out the energy currency of biology in the for
 m of the molecule adenosine triphosphate\, which is carried out the mitoch
 ondrion and made available to the cell.  Energy is released for biological
  processes by controlled reaction of adenosine triphosphate with water.  T
 he products of this reaction\, adenosine diphosphate and phosphate are ret
 urned to the mitochondria and recombined in the molecular factories to reg
 enerate the adenosine triphosphate.  We understand the precise constructio
 n and workings of the molecular factories.  Our research is directed at un
 derstanding how the molecular turbines function and how the factory and tu
 rbine are linked together.  We are also interested in understanding where 
 these machines came from and how they have evolved.  When these aims have 
 been reached\, we shall have revealed a fundamental process upon which lif
 e depends. Another interest is in what happens when this process goes wron
 g and how dysfunction of mitochondria is linked to human diseases.
LOCATION:Department of Pharmacology Lecture Theatre
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