Natalie Torok - Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology & Hepatology)
Dr. Natalie Torok's lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of liver fibrosis, focusing on the role of oxidative pathways in non-alcoholic and alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Dr. Torok's lab has demonstrated the intricate link between hepatocyte cell death, generation of apoptotic bodies and their phagocytosis by stellate cells triggering fibrogenic activation. Key to this was the activation of the NADPH oxidase and production of reactive oxidative species inducing stellate cell transdifferentiation and collagen I transcription.
