Dr. Katie Peterson, assistant professor of chemistry, discusses her research on probes which help identify damaging oxidized compounds in the human body during an Oct. 14 Honors Council Lecture at Bemidji State University.
Her lecture, “Imaging Oxidative Stress,” will be held Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. in Hagg-Sauer 107. Honors Council lectures are open to everyone free of charge.
”In our bodies, we have this balance between oxidative species that are evolved from oxygen and anti-oxidants in our body that we eat. When this balance is disrupted, we can cause damage to our biological tissues,” Peterson said. “So I’m interested in developing probes that can detect the biological molecules that cause that damage.”
This oxidative stress plays a role in a wide variety of physiological functions and diseases including diabetes, aging, Alzheimer’s disease and arthritis. However, there is currently little known about the biological concentration and the exact roles of the individual species which contribute to these conditions.
Peterson will lecture about her work to create probes that contain non-flourescent molecules that react with certain oxidants in the body and become fluorescent. This chemical process allows scientists to more easily identify, track and examine oxidants in the body.
About Katie Peterson
Peterson is an assistant professor of chemistry at BSU, where her primary teaching duties include medicinal chemistry and biological chemistry with medical implications. Her research focuses on the development of diagnostic tools and imaging agents for biological small molecules that are associated with disease states. She aims to inspire young women to pursue careers in science and is dedicated to chemical safety education.
Peterson majored in biochemistry/molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and has a doctorate in chemical biology from the University of Minnesota.
About the Honors Council Lecture Series
The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council. The council is the advisory group to the honors program comprised of 12 faculty members from each of the University’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms.
Contacts
• Kari Caughey, BSU honors program; (218) 755-3984
• Dr. Katie Peterson, assistant professor of chemistry; (218) 755-3880
Bemidji State University, located in northern Minnesota’s lake district, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling more than 5,000 students, Bemidji State offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate programs encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. The university is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. Bemidji State’s signature themes include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and global and multi-cultural understanding.