The biology of COVID-19 will be discussed during a seminar set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday in the Cooper Lecture Hall of the Science and Technology Building at the University of Texas Permian Basin.
The Biomedical Research Center will be hosting a seminar on the biology of viruses, variants, and therapies by two of its leading biomedical researchers. This discussion will focus on the biology of COVID not the guidelines and precautions such as masks, distance and sanitization. All are welcome to this free event on the UTPB Odessa campus.
Presenters will be Mei-Zhen Cui, Ph.D., co-director of the UTPB Biomedical Research Center and Professor of Biology, and Xuemin Xu, Ph.D., director of the UTPB Biomedical Research Center, professor of Biology, and the Dr. John Doran Endowed Professorship in Neurobiology.
“What we’re trying to do is give a science and molecular biology perspective on COVID. Often there’s kind of a general medicine health pathway. This is more like the science and biology” behind the virus, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Scott McKay said.
One of the things they will talk about is why some people are more vulnerable to the virus than others, McKay added.
As a research scientist trained in cardiovascular biology, blood coagulation disorder, atherothrombosis, and lipid metabolic disorder, Cui’s research has been continually funded by the NIH to study signaling pathways leading to blood coagulation/coagulopathy and injury of the carotid arteries and femoral arteries, information from the university said. Her lab has extensive expertise studying regulation of the expression and surface activity of the blood coagulation initiator protein tissue factor. The Cui research lab is also interested in studying molecular mechanisms of vascular wall injury, endothelial injury/endotheliopathy, endothelial cell integrity and barrier function, and vascular leak. Another active research area in this lab is determining the role of the bioactive lipid lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and its receptor-mediated intracellular pathways in vascular diseases.
Xu’s research has been funded by NIH, American Health Assistance Foundation, and Alzheimer’s Association over many years to study the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Recent studies have revealed that traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been linked to an increased risk of AD and ALS, the information said.
Dr. Xu’s lab has extensive experience and expertise using cutting edge technology to determine the molecules, the risk factors and the signaling pathways that are involved in neurodegeneration. Specifically, their recent study has identified a mitochondrial apoptotic molecule.
