Appointments:
Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Department Head, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Affiliations:
Dalhousie University
Research interests:
Cell Biology, Intracellular lipid metabolism, cholesterol homeostasis, neuroblastoma, neurons, endosomes, mitochondria, breast cancer
Research Summary: Linking cellular cholesterol homeostasis to cancer cell growth
All animal cells require cholesterol, which regulates membrane and membrane protein function. Cholesterol is present throughout the cell at different levels in each membrane and organelle. This uneven cholesterol distribution is maintained through the activity of many transport proteins and crucial for cellular function. During studies on a neurodegenerative disease, my lab discovered that changes in certain endosomal cholesterol transporters led to slower or more aggressive growth of neuroblastoma cells, depending on which transporter was manipulated. We are now working to elucidate the links between cholesterol distribution and cancer cell growth, using neuroblastoma and breast cancer cell models.
What brought you to your current institution? I completed my undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Hamburg, Germany and then moved to the University of Graz in Austria for my PhD research under supervision of Dr. Wolfgang Sattler, where I developed analytical techniques for cholesterol oxidation products and investigated their role in atherosclerosis. For my postdoctoral research, I joined the group of Dr. Jean E. Vance at the University of Alberta in Edmonton to study cholesterol metabolism in a neurodegenerative disorder called Niemann-Pick Type C disease. In December 2005, I started my independent research lab at Dalhousie University, investigating how cholesterol metabolism in neurons affects synaptic function and energy metabolism.
These studies led to my group’s interest in cancer research when we found that defects in cholesterol transporters that cause synaptic dysfunction and altered energy metabolism in neurons also caused changes in cancer cell growth.
Home town:
Hamburg, Germany
Learn More about my research:
Involvement with BHCRI to date:
I have been a Senior Scientist member of the BHCRI since 2022. I have served on a Scientific Review Committee for a CRTP award competition and currently supervise a CRTP trainee.
Contact:
bkarten@dal.ca