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Rodney P. Guttmann, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Room 306H, 900 South Limestone
Lexington, Kentucky 40536
Phone: 859-257-1412 x275
Rodney Guttmann is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Center for Gerontology and Physiology. His research area includes the regulation and function of proteolytic systems under physiological and pathological conditions. The major focus in the lab is on neurodegeneration caused by diseases such as Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's as well as other models of brain injury. Dr. Guttmann has demonstrated that oxidative stress inhibits proteolytic activity in AD suggesting possible mechanisms for oxidative-stressed induced neuropathology. Current studies are designed to isolate and characterize the oxidized proteases in various neurodegenerative conditions and to compare the effects various oxidants on protease activity. In collaboration with other researchers at the University of Kentucky, additional research in his lab is aimed at 1) identifying new physiological and pathological targets for the calpain family of proteases in brain, heart and muscle; 2) quantifying proteolytic activity during excitotoxicity such as observed in ischemic stroke; 3) developing peptide-based inhibitors of calpains for use in the prevention of cellular degeneration during stroke or heart attack; and 4) determining the putative role of calpains in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.