Klein named to fill the nation's first chair dedicated to proteomics research

Jon Klein, M.D., Ph.D., has been named to fill UofL's James Graham Brown Foundation Endowed Chair in Proteomics -- the first such chair in America dedicated to the rapidly expanding field.

Proteomics, or the study of proteins and how they are expressed in the human body, is becoming critically important to researchers because it provides insight into the fundamental causes of many diseases.

"Ultimately, it is the proteins that do the work in the cells, so if we are going to study abnormalities in the human body, we need to understand the accumulation of abnormal proteins that cause the mechanisms of disease," Klein said.

Klein joined UofL in 1985 and has held a variety of positions, including professorships in nephrology, biochemistry and molecular biology.

Klein, who was named "one of the 50 most influential people in genomic technology" by Genomic Technology magazine, earned his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Louisville in 1988.

He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and currently is the principal investigator in a study examining the role of signalling proteins in the control of immune cells.

Other recent research includes a study to determine the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease, funded by the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with investigators at the University of Kentucky.

Klein's new chair was created with an endowment made possible by a gift from the James Graham Brown Foundation. The gift was matched by the state's Research Challenge Trust Fund.