Lindahl Lab

We are just completing a study of mice that have the genetic disease Hereditary Hemochromatosis. We are characterizing an iron-complex in blood plasma called NTBI (nontransferrin-bound iron). We have also characterized the accumulation of iron in their tissues (liver, heart, spleen, etc) by enriching the mice with 57Fe and then collecting Mössbauer spectra of whole organs. The results of our current study are quite exciting, and they call for future follow-up studies in similar directions. Another animal study of interest would involve cancer. Iron plays an important role in cancer (it accumulates in cancerous tumors), and it would be exciting to examine this form of iron using our novel methods. We would use a genetic strain of mice that is unusually sensitive to developing cancer, raise them with 57Fe in their diet, then dissect the tumors and collecting Mössbauer spectra.