Contact: Ellen Bank
843.792.2626
Sept. 16, 2005
CHARLESTON -- Medical University of South Carolina officials have named John J. Lemasters M.D., Ph.D., to fill its second endowed chair under the Centers of Economic Excellence Program funded through the South Carolina Education Lottery.
Lemasters is a world-renowned pioneer in a special type of microscopy -- laser scanning confocal microscopy -- a powerful research tool allowing the visualization of the functioning of single cells with an unprecedented degree of clarity. The difference between older techniques of microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy has been likened by Lemasters to that between a typical X-ray, which provides a static, uni-dimensional view of tissue, and an MRI (magnetic resonance image), which provides a three-dimensional visualization of living tissue.
Lemasters will be working at MUSC directly with Rick Schnellmann, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Yusuf Hannun, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. "Both Dr. Hannun and I are excited that he will not only bring this important technology to our own departments, but he will make it available to researchers across the MUSC campus," said Schnellmann.
"The Centers of Economic Excellence Program has enabled us to recruit a scientist of Dr. Lemasters' caliber," continued Schnellmann. "He is an established researcher in his field, working at a prestigious university. The endowed chair and the opportunity to head our new Center for Cell Injury, Death and Regeneration were major factors in our ability to attract him to MUSC. We anticipate he will bring with him high caliber junior faculty members."
Lemasters will be continuing funded research projects at MUSC. One of his major interests is understanding how the liver becomes damaged during chronic alcohol use. He has studied the mechanism of liver cell death occurring in response to alcohol and other toxicants and has shown that such toxicants can cause liver cells to die by stimulating changes in the mitochondria, the power source of the cell that is indispensable to the function of individual cells. "Dr. Lemasters is a world-renowned investigator in mitochondrial biology," said Hannun. "Mitochondria have been known for several decades as the energy powerhouse of the cells. Recently they have become appreciated as key regulators of whether cells survive or undergo cells death. This is of great importance for cancer research, transplant research, cardiac disease, neurological diseases and others."
Lemasters comes to MUSC from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he has served on the faculty since1977. Currently he is a professor in departments of Cell Biology & Anatomy and Surgery. He also directs the university's Cell and Molecular Imaging Facility and the Confocal Imaging Facility.
Holder of five patents, Lemasters has edited four textbooks and authored nearly 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is an associate editor of Gastroenterology and serves or has served on editorial boards of seven professional publications.
A cum laude graduate of Yale University, Lemasters holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University where he also held an NIH predoctoral fellowship.
John J. Lemasters M.D., Ph.D.
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