Biochemical Journal Young Investigator Award Winner

Eric Lewis

Eric Lewis was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina and graduated from C.E. Jordan High school in 1997. He graduated Cum Laude and obtained his BS in Biochemistry and BA in Chemistry from North Carolina State University in 2001. He interned in the Infectious Diseases Department at GlaxoSmithKline for two summers working in research and development of diabetes and obesity drugs. He entered the Molecular Medicine Ph.D. program at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in the fall of 2001.

He is currently interested in regulation of the production of reactive oxygen species, specifically the superoxide anion in human neutrophils. Defects in the phagocytic oxidase, which is responsible for production of the superoxide anion, result in the phenotype known as Chronic Granulomatous Disease. The regulation of this oxidase is through phosphorylation and lipid second messengers. Currently he is studying the function of lipid binding to components of the oxidase complex. Homologues of the oxidase have been found in many other tissues of the body and have been linked to other diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. By understanding the regulation of this enzyme we might be better able to treat patients with these diseases.