John J. Lemasters MD, PhD

Dr. Lemasters earned his MD and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1975. Over the course of his career as a faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center Southwestern Medical School, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), he has published over 350 papers in peer-reviewed journals, more than 100 book chapters, received 6 patents, and edited 4 books. Productive, long-term collaborations with junior and senior colleagues contributed importantly to this success.

Dr. Lemasters has a long-standing interest in the role of mitochondrial metabolism in hepatic pathobiology, especially in relation to ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury, ethanol/drug-induced hepatic injury, liver preservation for transplantation, cancer, and mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy). His in vitro and in vivo studies of living cells and tissues have shown that mitochondrial calcium uptake, iron translocation from lysosomes to mitochondria, and oxidative stress promote the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT). The MPT initially induces lysosomal degradation of mitochondria by autophagy, a selective process called mitophagy. However, after ischemia/reperfusion, oxidative stress, liver storage, and transplantation, acetaminophen hepatotoxicity and other stresses to the liver, excess MPT onset induce both necrotic cell death from ATP depletion and apoptosis due to cytochrome c release after mitochondrial swelling. Dr. Lemasters has also shown similar events occurring in cardiac myocytes subjected to ischemia/reperfusion.