Harald Sontheimer, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology and a scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, has been selected by the Society for Neuroscience program committee to deliver a special lecture at the 43rd annual meeting of the Society in San Diego on Nov. 9-13, 2013. Sontheimer’s presentation will be entitled “Glioma: A Neurocentric Look at Cancer.”
Sontheimer is also director of the UAB Center for Glial Biology in Medicine, the first research entity exclusively dedicated to the study of glial cells and their role in health and disease, as well as co-director of the Civitan International Research Center. His research interests focus on glial cells which constitute more than 50 percent of brain cells, yet their involvement in normal brain function is not fully understood. Uncontrolled proliferation of glial cells causes gliomas, the most deadly form of cancer.
Sontheimer received his Ph.D. in cell biology and biophysics from the University of Heidelberg in 1989. He received postdoctoral training at Yale University before joining the faculty at UAB in 1994.