Lori Birder, PhD

Dr. Birder’s laboratory is focused on the physiology and pharmacology of multiple organ systems in health and disease with a current focus on stress/pain and aging. Evidence supporting purine dysregulation in the aged lower urinary tract has been published by our team in JCI Insight and collaboration in the field of ophthalmology has revealed similar evidence of purine dysregulation in an animal model for age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The most recent evidence has shown that targeting a single enzyme restores purine dysregulation and resultant mitochondrial dysfunction/oxidative stress. Given the important and fundamental role for mitochondrial dysregulation in the pathogenesis of aging and visceral pain conditions, therapies that can protect and restore mitochondria are likely to be important in terms of disease prevention.