Boris Zhivotovsky
Professor of Toxicology, especially Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Death at the Institute of Environmental Medicine since 2002.
Photo: Bildmakarna
More than 50 million of our cells die every day. Normal human cell turnover is pre-programmed, and is referred to as programmed cell death, or apoptosis.
If the signal pathways for apoptosis become defective, impaired cell death functions can give rise to cancer or autoimmune disturbances.
Increased cell death, on the other hand, can lead to stroke, AIDS or neurodegenerative conditions. Better understanding of the mechanisms of apoptosis and other types of cell death is needed to develop new drugs that can promote or prevent cell death.
