Advisory Board
Dr Micheline Mathews-Roth
Dr. Micheline Mathew-Roth has been a Sponsor of the APF Scientific
Advisory Board (SAB) since its inception in 1982. She serves
as a physician at Brigham & Women's Hospital and as an
associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School where
she performs basic science and clinical research in photobiology.
Her clinical studies focus on developing photo-protective treatments
for erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) and other human photosenstivity
diseases. At present, she is researching beta-carotene and the
amino acid, cysteine, as protective agents against the effects
of light in EPP patients. She is also developing gene therapy treatments
for EPP.
Not only does Dr. Mathews-Roth serve on the APF/SAB, but she
also founded and directs the Erythopoietic Protoporphyria Research
and Education Fund (EPPREF), a support group for EPP patients and
their families. Dr. Mathews-Roth has made herself available to
advise patients and their physicians about the light-sensitive
porphyrias and the medical uses of beta-carotene and other carotenoid
pigments. In those capacities, she has earned the accolades of
EPP patients and their physicians around the world. Their heartwarming
comments about her kindness, compassion and expertise have been
particularly helpful to newly diagnosed patients, who are relieved
to find help in such a wonderful human being.
Her basic science studies focus on:
-
Molecular biology of
EPP and related gene therapy studies
-
Carotenoid molecule photoprotective
functions in the bacteria which contain carotenoids, as well
as mammilian cells supplemented with them
-
Genetics of the pigment
formation in non-photosynthetic carotenoid-containing bacteria.
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