Metabolic engineering analysis of post-burn hepatic hypermetabolism

Metabolic engineering refers to the directed improvement of product formation or cellular properties through the modification of specific biochemical reactions or introduction of new ones with the use of recombinant DNA technology. It has been used to investigate and modify intermediary metabolism in a variety of microbial organisms of biotechnological interest. An emerging area of application for metabolic engineering is medicine, in particular the study of metabolic disorders, where analysis and manipulation of metabolic pathways have obvious relevance. Central to metabolic engineering is the notion that metabolism results from the concerted and coordinated activities of biochemical pathways connected through shared intermediates in the form of common reactants, products, and catalysts. According to this "metabolic network" concept, an enhanced understanding of metabolism and cellular function is obtained by considering the component biochemical reactions together, rather than individually. In this light, this thesis work was motivated by the idea that the application of metabolic engineering analysis to biological systems relevant to human disease has the potential to provide valuable insight into the biochemical underpinnings behind metabolic disorders. In the present dissertation, this idea was explored by investigating a metabolic disorder known clinically as hypermetabolism that is associated with the systemic inflammatory response to severe injury. At the whole body level, hypermetabolism is characterized by elevated resting energy expenditure and increased turnover of proteins, fatty acids, and carbohydrates.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Kyongbum, 1972-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Martin L. Yarmush.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8391

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8391