Faculty of Science & Engineering
Home
Faculty of Science & Engineering
Flinders University
Contact
Search
| School of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science & Engineering |
|
| Home
Faculty of Science & Engineering
Flinders University
Contact
Search
|
||
|
Dr Kathy SchullerContact Details
Key Responsibilities
Teaching
ResearchOmega-3s, antioxidants and human health Omega-3s (more correctly known as long-chain omega-3 fatty acids) have been credited with a range of human health benefits including improved visual and brain development in children, reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases in adults and reduced suffering from inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Oily fish such as tuna, salmon and mackerel are the best whole-food sources of omega-3s but many other foods (e.g. bread, muffins and milk) can now be enriched with omega-3s using micro- or even nano-encapsulation technology to avoid the ‘fishy’ taste. Fish are also a good source of other important nutrients such as iodine, selenium, co-enzyme Q10, taurine and low-fat protein. In our laboratory we are using newly developed cell lines from Southern Bluefin Tuna to investigate the metabolism of omega-3s in vitro. There are two main aspects to this project: (1) the impact of vegetable oils in the diet on the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid content of the edible portion of farmed tuna and (2) the impact of antioxidants in the diet on the shelf-stability of the omega-3s in the edible portion of these fish. Tuna farming is a major primary industry in South Australia and other countries such as Spain and Mexico. Fish farming in general is rapidly expanding as wild fish stocks continue to decline and the World’s human population continues to grow. As fish farming expands, scientists are investigating replacing fish oils with vegetable oils in the diets of farmed fish. This overcomes the problem of dwindling wild fish stocks to supply the fish oils. However recent events, i.e., increased use of vegetable oils as alternatives to fossil fuels, have unexpectedly pushed vegetable oil prices higher relative to fish oils. Thus, this will continue to be an interesting and commercially relevant area of research.
Cloning, expression, purification and crystallization of thioredoxin peroxidase from the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum: Malaria infects 300-500 million people worldwide and resistance to the current antimalarial drugs is rapidly increasing. One of the oldest antimalarial medicines is an extract of the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Artemisia annua L. whose use dates back to 168 B.C. In the 1960s there was a revival of interest in this and other traditional Chinese medicines to fight malaria. The active ingredient in Artemisia annua L was identified as artemisinin. Artemisinin is an organic peroxide. Its antimalarial activity is thought to be due to the relatively weak ability of the malaria parasite to detoxify organic peroxides as compared with the relatively strong detoxification capacity of the human host. Thus, there is now a great deal of interest in developing artemisinin and related organic peroxides as new antimalarial drugs. The toxicity of organic peroxides is due to their ability to elicit oxidative stress in cells. Oxidative stress is an undesirable by-product of normal cellular respiration that plays an important role in aging-related diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s hence the current fashion for taking antioxidant preparations such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E and various plant extracts. However, cells also have enzymatic mechanisms of protection against oxidative stress. One of the key enzymes is thioredoxin peroxidase (TPX). This enzyme detoxifies organic peroxides. It is found both in human red blood cells and in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. However, the form of the enzyme found in human red blood cells appears to be quite different from the form found in P. falciparum. Thus, TPX could be a good target for organic peroxide antimalarial drugs that are non-toxic to humans. Therefore, the aim of this project is to clone, express, purify and crystallize the malarial TPX and compare it with the already-crystallized human red blood cell TPX. This comparison will support the development of antimalarial drugs that target the malaria parasite without adversely affecting the human host.
Current grant funded projects
|
| Disclaimer, Copyright | Privacy |
Top of page