VALERIAN E KAGAN

(Pittsburgh, USA)

Dr. Valerian E. Kagan is one of the world’s recognized leaders and one of the most prominent authorities in the field of Free Radical Biology and Medicine. He has published ~600 papers in the field in peer-reviewed, high impact journals, including Cell, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Chemistry, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications. He is the Director of Center for Free Radical and Antioxidant Health and Professor of Environmental Sciences, Chemistry, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and Radiation Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh. He is an Executive Editor of “Antioxidants and Redox Signaling” and Associate Editor of “Chemistry and Physcis of Lipids.” Internationally known for his interdisciplinary studies of oxidative stress, antioxidants, tissue and cell acute and chronic injury, he is one of the leaders in the new field of “Oxidative Lipidomics.” Free radicals, lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress have been long associated with tissue and cell damage through yet not well characterized specific mechanisms. The incompleteness of this knowledge is a stumbling block in discovery, development and effective implementation of antioxidant preventive and therapeutic strategies. The research performed by Dr. Kagan is important as it uncovers specific pathways through which enzymes of oxidative metabolism participate in the production of specific oxygenated lipid molecules that act as signals triggering cell death program as well as mechanisms involved in clearance of damaged or dead cells.