New Faculty Join the College
Okhee Han
Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences
photo by Gene Maylock
Okhee Han, Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Han received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1995 in Nutritional Biochemistry. After completing postdoctoral training in molecular and cell biology at Yale School of Medicine and Harvard University, she moved to Oklahoma to take an assistant professor position at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. In 2005, she moved to Penn State, she says, to be “closer to the east coast with its research-oriented atmosphere. I am looking forward my career at Penn State.”
Han’s research projects are focused on understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms of the intestinal iron absorption processes and the regulation of iron absorption response to demands over the life cycle as well as to the various patho-physiological conditions (such as iron-depletion and –overload, hemochromatosis, chronic infection and inflammation).
Iron is very important for normal human life and the disturbances of iron homeostasis can cause life-threatening clinical manifestations in various organs. While iron deficiency can lead to anemia, reduced physical performance and immune functions, and impaired learning ability, paradoxically, too much iron may be equally hazardous to health by resulting in heart disease, certain forms of cancer (e.g., colon, liver, pancreatic), neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and premature death. The amount of iron in the body, therefore, is tightly controlled by regulating iron absorption in the small intestine. For example, iron absorption responds to body iron stores by increasing or decreasing the efficiency of iron absorption when iron stores are low or high, respectively. The homeostatic regulation of intestinal iron absorption is, however, defective in human disorders of iron metabolism, such as hemochromatosis, and in many patho-physiological conditions that cause iron overload or iron deficiency. Despite our advanced knowledge in iron metabolism, the molecular and cellular mechanism of intestinal iron absorption still remains unclear.
The understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of intestinal iron absorption and its regulation will allow us to develop more effective strategies to promote nutritional status and the absorption of iron during the life cycle and the various patho-physiological conditions.
