UAS Professor Dr. Konrad Meister Secures Grants for Research on Cryopreservation
In January 2020 chemistry professor Dr. Konrad Meister joined the faculty in the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), and since that time he has secured 2 equipment grants from the UAF Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program and INBRE -- the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence
Juneau, Alaska
Date of Press Release: May 18, 2020
In January 2020 chemistry professor Dr. Konrad Meister joined the faculty in the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), and since that time he has secured 2 equipment grants from the UAF Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program and INBRE -- the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence. In addition, he was recently awarded a Pilot Program Award from BLaST/National Institutes of Health (NIH) worth $51K to investigate the mechanism underlying the positive effects of antifreeze glycoproteins on the cryopreservation of red blood cells.
Meister received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in biochemistry from the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. Afterwards he joined the lab of Martina Havenith at the same university and completed his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 2013. From 2014-2018 he did his postdoctoral at the Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics AMOLF in the Netherlands as a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow. Since 2018 he has been a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany. Konrad also had several research stays at the University of Illinois and participated in four Antarctic expeditions.
Konrad Meister’s research aims to obtain an understanding of the molecular strategies of freeze-avoiding and freeze-tolerant organisms and how we can use nature's tricks in biomedical applications. Coming to Alaska was hence a heart decision to him, and he remarked, "I love the cold and the cool molecules and unique ways that nature developed to cope with it.”
Dean Thomas Thornton notes, “Professor Meister has hit the ground running in establishing his reputation and research profile on the chemistry of antifreeze proteins, which has wide application from how we preserve our ice-cream to a range of biomedical procedures and applications. This research is rooted in the study of organisms in cold places, like Alaska and other polar regions of the world, and has the potential to yield widespread human benefits.”
Learn more about UAS faculty research. Call (907) 796-6100 to speak to an advisor about UAS degree programs in the natural sciences.