UTS Science in Focus: Trace Elements: As precious as gold for your health

Metals play key roles in over 40 percent of the proteins in our body, yet their involvement in health and certain diseases is still not clear. Some trace metals that are essential to life can be deadly if the delicate balance in the cell is disturbed.
The ubiquity of trace elements presents numerous challenges to studying them within biological systems. However, as our population ages, there is more and more urgency in studying how trace elements are involved in neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Dr Dominic Hare and Dr Blaine Roberts will examine how cutting edge analytical technology is providing new insight into how we can probe the role of trace elements in normal physiology, and how it is being applied to studying devastating diseases in humans.

This is a free public lecture series presented by UTS experts in science; discussing a range of important scientific issues confronting contemporary Australia. It is also part of the Ultimo Science Festival, supported by the City of Sydney and the Australian Government.