Faculty Lecture: Vitamin E and Alzheimer’s Disease

May 2, 2019 from 12:00pm - 1:00pm

12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Please join us for the final lecture of our 2019 Faculty Lecture Series. Lynn Ulatowski, PhD, assistant professor of biology, presents "Vitamin E and Alzheimer’s Disease." Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant. There has been much research outlining how vitamin E works in the body, and especially how vitamin E may prevent neurological-related conditions. As such many individuals take vitamin E to combat oxidative stress-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Ulatowski will outline what is known about vitamin E in the brain, drawing on a recent paper published with a student at Ursuline entitled “Vitamin E: Mechanism and Transport in the CNS.” Additionally, information about how each person may respond differently to vitamin E supplementation will also be discussed based a paper published with a student in 2017 entitled: “Vitamin E and Alzheimer’s disease: Is it Time for Personalized Medicine.”

Dr. Ulatowski earned a BS in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology from Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. She earned an MS in Nutrition and a PhD in Molecular Nutrition, both from Case Western Reserve University. Her Dissertation topic was: Regulation of Vitamin E and Tocopherol Transfer protein, for which she received the Academic Excellence Award. As a Post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Ulatowski researched Vitamin E transport in the central nervous system, which is particularly relevant to oxidative stress associated diseases like Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Down Syndrome. Her research also includes delineating how modifications of Tiam1 GEF influences activation of Rho GTPases and progression of colon cancer.