| Kenneth Storey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kenneth Bruce Storey October 23, 1949 Taber, Alberta |
| Residence | Canada |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Fields | Molecular Physiology Biochemistry |
| Institutions | Carleton University, Canada |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter Hochachka |
| Notable awards | Royal Society of Canada Fellow (1990) ISI Highly Cited Researcher (2004-present) |
Kenneth B. Storey, FRSC (born October 23, 1949) is a Canadian scientist whose work draws from a variety of fields including biochemistry and molecular biology. He is currently a Professor of Biology and Chemistry at Carleton University. Storey has a world-wide reputation for his research on biochemical adaptation - the molecular mechanisms that allow animals to adapt to and endure severe environmental stresses such as deep cold, oxygen deprivation, and desiccation.[1]
Contents |
Storey is a Professor of Biochemistry, cross-appointed in the Departments of Biology and Chemistry, and holds the Canada Research Chair in Molecular Physiology at Carleton University in Ottawa.[2]
Storey is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.[3] and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has won both fellowships and awards for research excellence including the Ottawa Life Sciences Council Basic Research Award (1998), a Killam Senior Research Fellowship (1993–1995), the Ayerst Award from the Canadian Biochemical Society (1989), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (1984–1986), and four Carleton University Research Achievement Awards (2003, 1998, 1992, 1989). Storey is the author of over 500 research articles, the editor of six books, and an organizer of numerous international symposia.[4] He maintains a large research group and has supervised many MSc and PhD students to date, provided research opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and scientists from more than 15 different countries, and maintains collaborative research with multiple laboratories on both national and international levels.
Storey's research utilizes a variety of techniques and approaches including studies of enzyme properties, gene expression, protein phosphorylation, and cellular signal transduction mechanisms to seek out the basic principles of how organisms endure and flourish under extreme conditions. He is particularly known within the field of cryobiology for his studies of animals that can survive freezing, especially the frozen "frog-sicles" (Rana sylvatica) that have made his work popular with multiple TV shows and magazines.[5][6][7] Storey's studies of the adaptations that allow frogs, insects, and other animals to survive freezing have made major advances in the understanding of how cells, tissues and organs can endure freezing.[7] Storey was also responsible for the discovery that hatching painted turtles (Chrysemys picta marginata) are freeze tolerant. These turtles are unique as they are the only reptile, and highest vertebrate life form, known to tolerate the natural freezing of extracellular body fluids during winter hibernation.[8] These advances have key applications for medical science and the development of organ cryopreservation technology for use in creating banks of frozen organs for use in transplantation.[2] A second area of his research is metabolic rate depression - understanding the mechanisms by which some animals can sharply reduce their metabolism and enter a state of hypometabolism or torpor that allows them to survive over the long term under difficult environmental stresses. His studies have identified molecular mechanisms that underlie metabolic arrest across phylogeny and that support phenomena including mammalian hibernation, estivation, and anoxia and ischemia tolerance. As one example, metabolic rate depression is a key factor during estivation, a dormancy induced as a response to dry desert conditions in the anuran species Scaphiopus couchii. The North American spadefoot toad is capable of enduring these extreme environmental conditions through coordinated controls that can regulate overall metabolic rate potential, controls which include transcription factor level changes that alter gene expression, and reversible phosphorylation of key metabolic enzymes by protein kinases and protein phosphatases. These studies across multiple species also hold key applications for medical science, particularly for preservation technologies that aim to extend the survival time of excised organs in cold or frozen storage.[2] Additional applications include insights into hyperglycemia in metabolic syndrome and diabetes,[9] and anoxic and ischemic damage caused by heart attack and stroke.[10]