Mark Hannick is a professor of biochemistry. The Hannink laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate how cells respond to their environment. In particular, his lab is interested in understanding how human cells sense and respond to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has been implicated in many disease processes, including cancer, heart failure, kidney disease, liver disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Oxidative stress results from an imbalance between highly reactive oxygen molecules produced by normal cellular processes and the anti-oxidant molecules that help cells neutralize and eliminate reactive and toxic molecules. The Hannink lab has identified several protein complexes that regulate cellular responses to oxidative stress and is interested in developing therapeutic approaches that target these protein complexes and will increase the ability of normal cells to withstand oxidative stress.