Dr. John Lemasters is an expert at looking inside cells. His favorite part of the cell has always been the mitochondrion.
Mitochondria are the tiny powerhouses of the cell.
These cellular organelles, only one thousandth of a millimeter in size, make all of the energy that the human body uses to perform daily tasks. Because mitochondria are so important to normal functioning, they are a key target for cellular injury research. Through his work with the UNC Skipper Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies and as a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Dr. Lemasters studies many aspects of cell damage and death, including the damage caused by exposure to toxicants such as alcohol. One of the most common pathological conditions caused by alcohol abuse is liver injury. The Lemasters lab and their collaborators study exactly how alcohol causes this damage.