Dr. Leonid Livshits

Our research focuses on studying the physiological, biophysical, and rheological characteristics of healthy and pathological Red Blood Cells (RBCs), with a special emphasis on the RBC changes in metabolic complications and hemoglobinopathies. 

The specific issues we work on include:

- Glucose uptake into human RBC: open (and very intriguing) questions.

Although the mechanisms of the regulation of glucose uptake and its impact on RBC physiology and rheology have been under intensive investigation for the last 70 years, we are still far from a complete understanding of these fundamental processes. The unique perturbations of numerous membrane protein complexes, the regulative redistribution of ATP, Ca 2+ , hemoglobin isoforms, and water molecules within the cell, the affected membrane charge, and adapted rheology are only a few from the myriads of the pathways triggered by acute glucose influx into human erythrocyte. 

The following questions are at the top of our research interest:

(a)   The regulative role of Protein Kinase C (PKC) isoforms in glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1)-mediated glucose transport.
(b)   The effect of insulin, adrenergic hormones, adipokines, and sex hormones on GLUT1-mediated uptake and associated processes in human RBC.
(c)   The influence of glucose uptake on RBC deformability: a possible regulative role of lipid raft constituents.
(d)   The mechanisms of altered glucose uptake in patients with congenital membranopathies and hemoglobinopathies in RBC.

- RBC Features as Early Prognostic Biomarkers

- The physiological and clinical roles of various hemoglobin isoforms with a particular view on the roles of minor adult hemoglobin, HbA2, and glycated hemoglobin.