526th MEETING Of the NORTHEAST TENNESSEE SECTION

Date: Monday, October 8^th, 2001

Location: Eastman Lodge (near Bays Mnt. Rec. Area) Kingsport, TN

Speaker: Ned Porter, Vanderbilt University

Title: Free Radicals and Molecular Oxygen: Antioxidants and Your Plasma Lipid"

Abstract: Oxidation of human low density lipoprotein (LDL) is implicated as an initiator of atherosclerosis. Oxidation of LDL is a first step in the formation of foam cells on artery walls and in the ultimate deposition of arterial plaque. Free radical chain oxidation of lipids that are the major constituents of LDL has been investigated and will be discussed in this lecture. New methods for analysis of peroxide products permits the study of the mechanism of lipid peroxidation in LDL at a level that has not been possible. The effect of antioxidants such as Vitamins E and C on the oxidation process of LDL has also been studied and the synthesis and study of some new antioxidants that are "better" than Vitamin E will be discussed.

About Our Speaker: Ned A. Porter received his B.S. from Princeton University in 1965 where he majored in Chemical Engineering and his Ph.D. in 1969 from Harvard University where he worked with Paul D. Bartlett. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at Duke University where he rose through the ranks to James B. Duke Professor of Chemistry. In 1998 he accepted a position in the Department of Chemistry and Center in Molecular Toxicology at Vanderbilt University where he is now Stevenson Professor of Chemistry. He has been Visiting Professor at The University of Nijmegen, Cal Tech, T.H. Damstadt, and the University of Freiburg. He is the author of over 180 publications and a book co-authored with D. P. Curran and B. Giese on "Control of Stereochemistry in Free Radical Reactions; Concepts, Guidelines, and Synthetic Applications ", published in 1996. He was named a Arthur C. Cope Scholar by the American Chemical Society in 2000 and he has been an NIH Career Awardee, a Humboldt Senior Fellow, and an NIH MERIT Awardee. He has research interests in free radical chemistry, the chemistry of molecular aggregates, and enzyme photo-activation.