Researching a Cure for Alzheimer’s
In UMBC’s recently renovated Chemistry Building, Jesse Karr, a chemistry and biochemistry Ph.D. student, is standing over a brand-new electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer, one of the more recent research acquisitions at UMBC and the ‘pride and joy’ of his mentor, Assistant Professor Veronika A. Szalai.
Karr is researching copper-metal ions and the influence they have on the neurodegenerative factor of Alzheimer’s disease. Copper plays a more important role in our bodies than most people realize, he said.
“Copper is actually biologically relevant; we all have a lot more copper in our bodies then most people know,” he says. “It has been implicated in A-beta fibril formation, the possible neurotoxic species and hallmark characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. If you can figure out how copper is binding to these fibrils in an AD patient, you can hopefully figure out a way to take the copper out. In other words, if you can prevent copper from binding, you can potentially stop Alzheimer’s disease.”
Karr said he feels drawn to the study of chemistry, a bond that only grows stronger as his research at UMBC progresses. “People ask me, ‘Why are you involved in chemistry?’ And I realize that I’ve met really motivating, inspirational people in chemistry … it started in high school chemistry all the way up to my current advisor, Dr. Szalai. I think she’s a great mentor.”
Originally from New York, Karr received a B.S. in Chemistry from Plattsburgh State, one of the SUNY schools in the New York State University System. While he was hesitant to move, the outstanding faculty and the research opportunities at UMBC won him over.
“I did online searches for graduate schools and UMBC just kept coming up, so I started asking questions about it … I just kept looking into it and decided it was the best fit for me,” he says. “The equipment seemed a lot more advanced, the faculty was nice, I just got an overall better impression from UMBC.”
(7/25/05)
