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The Department of Clinical Biochemistry at present includes eight senior faculty members and 20 graduate students. The Department is responsible for teaching biochemistry, clinical biochemistry, metabolic regulation, obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance, clinical endocrinology, hematology, cytokines during inflammation and lipid metabolism to medical, laboratory sciences, nursing, and life science students. Faculty members are employed either by the Ben-Gurion University or the Soroka University Medical Center. In addition to research, the Soroka faculty members are responsible for providing diagnostic and other clinical services in the fields of metabolic diseases, neutrophil functions, nephrology, endocrinology, gastroentereology, and hematology. The department members are involved in several research projects: 1) The mechanism for oxidative stress induced insulin resistance in diabetes; 2) The role of phospholipase A2 in regulation of phagocytic function and the signaling
> leading to its activation; 3) The role of vitamin D in calcium homeostasis in regulating cell growth and in cytokine expression;
> 4) Regulation of cancer cell proliferation by naturally occurring (carotenoids) and synthetic (antiestrogens) compounds. 5) Mechanisms of these anticancer effects through modulation of growth factor signal transduction, activity of transcription factors and the cells cycle machinery. 6) Mechanisms of protein kinase- and G protein-dependent regulation of Na,K-ATPase activity. 7) Cytokines during inflammation, and 8) Colon cancer.
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