Identifying the Origins, Prevalence and Toxicity of Endogenous Formaldehyde

Most people know of formaldehyde as formalin, the substance used to embalm animal specimens in glass jars in museums. What you may not appreciate is that our bodies produces enough formaldehyde that can cause irreversible damage to our cells and organs. We discovered that we have a two pillar protection system that ensures this formaldehyde can not cause lasting damage to us. The purpose of this research proposal is to identify how and where in our bodies formaldehyde comes from. We will develop methods to measure how much formaldehyde is produced in us. We want to better understand how formaldehyde damages our tissues and also to discover new protection systems against it with the use of unique animal models. The formaldehyde produced within our bodies may cause our cells to stop renewing themselves, so by understanding the science of this natural substance we might learn more about the ageing process.