Ronald O. Ball, Ph.D.

Professor Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto FitzGerald Building 150 College Street Toronto ON M5S 3E2 CANADA Tel: (403) 492-7151 Fax: (403) 492-9130 E-mail: rball@afns.ualberta.ca

For additional information about Dr. Ball, please visit his website at www.afns.ualberta.ca/Hosted/rball.

Research

Amino acid metabolism is my primary focus and Dr. Paul Pencharz collaborates in all this research. We have developed two unique models to study issues of amino acid requirements and metabolism in human adults and infants. One of these is the Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation Technique, which we developed in humans and have now begun to apply to issues of amino acid metabolism during disease. The other method is a neonatal pig model for the human infant where we are studying the amino acid requirements during total parenteral nutrition, and amino acid metabolism during enteral feeding.

Selected Publications

• Brunton, JA, Ball, RO, Pencharz, PB. Current total parenteral nutrition solutions for the neonate are inadequate. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care 3:299-304, 2000.
• Bertolo, RFP, Pencharz, PB, Ball, RO. Organ and plasma amino acid concentrations are profoundly different in piglets fed identical diets via gastric, central venous or portal venous routes. J Nutr 130:1261-1266, 2000.
• Darling, PD, Grunow, J, Rafii, M, Brookes, S, Ball, RO, Pencharz, PB. Threonine dehydrogenase is a minor degradative pathway of threonine catabolism in adult humans. Amer J Physiol 278:E877-84, 2000.
• Bross, R, Ball, RO, Clarke, JTR, Pencharz, PB. Tyrosine requirements in children with classical PKU determined by indicator amino acid oxidation. Amer J Physiol 278:E195-E201, 2000.