University of Waterloo
“Biophysical study of the effect of lithium isotopes from cells to ion channels, towards uncovering quantum phenomena in neuroscience”
Dr. Bukhteeva took on the challenging task of uncovering the differential effects of Li isotopes on human ion transporters across multiple cell types during her PhD studies. Her work demonstrated that several ion transport mechanisms, such as the mitochondrial sodium/calcium/lithium exchanger, calcium phosphate clusters, and Na+ and K+ ion channels, are affected by Li isotopes. Furthermore, her work showed that significant Li isotope fractionation occurs at the mitochondrial membrane; however, only small effects were observed at the Na+ or sodium/calcium/lithium exchanger channel levels. Collectively, the PhD thesis work expands our current knowledge of Li therapeutic applications and provides a solid foundation for future experiments to elucidate the mysteries of Li and its isotopes.