Newswise — MAYWOOD, Ill. - Researchers from around the country who are studying alcohol’s negative effects on the body discussed their latest findings during a meeting at Loyola University Chicago’s Health Sciences campus. About 70 scientists from Loyola, University of Colorado, Cleveland Clinic and other leading alcohol-research centers attended the all-day meeting. Research topics included how alcohol affects the immune system and the balance of intestinal bacteria and how alcohol can alter how genes are expressed (turned on or turned off).
“The more we study alcohol, the more we are learning about the harmful effects it can have,” said Mashkoor A. Choudhry, PhD, director of Loyola’s Alcohol Research Program. “The scientists who are attended the meeting and presented their findings are working at the frontiers of this research.”
The meeting was sponsored by the Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group and supported by Loyola’s Alcohol Research Program and Department of Surgery, the University of Colorado, and a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that is jointly run by Choudhry and Elizabeth J. Kovacs, PhD of the University of Colorado at Denver.
Loyola’s Alcohol Research Program includes about 50 faculty members, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and technicians who are studying the molecular, cellular, and physiological responses to acute, binge and chronic alcohol exposure. Studies focus on endocrine, gastrointestinal, immune, nervous, and skeletal systems.
RSS