Real name:
Biography:
Chris Rourk (BSEE, M.Eng., JD) is a patent attorney and former research scientist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Westinghouse. In his spare time, he discovered and investigates how cells and cellular systems use the unusual electrical and magnetic properties of ferritin, an iron storage protein with a physical structure like a semiconductor quantum dot. It appears that those properties are used by mitochondria as well as many other organelles, and are involved with the functions provided by macrophages, the cochlea, the retina, myelin and other cellular systems. His primary focus is raising awareness of those properties.
Current research areas:
1) The interaction between ferritin, electron sources such as antioxidants and triplet state electrons, and electron sinks such as reactive oxygen species and free radicals. Ferritin effectively buffers electrons from sources and provides them to sinks.
2) The magnetic properties of ferritin, which appear to be created through chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) by the interaction of the chiral ferritin protein shell sub-units and the superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) contain in the core. It has been shown that CISS can imprint ferromagnetism on SPIONs, and this appears to be present in ferritin.
3) The way in which macrophages provide ferritin to cells under oxidative stress, such as cancer cells, to augment the function of antioxidants.
4) Ferritin structures in lysosomes and other organelles that appear to impart ferromagnetic properties to those organelles.
5) Long-distance electron transport through ferritin structures that are similar to those found in cells that appears to result from sequential electron tunneling, and which can create Coulomb blockade effects that could be used by organelles to route electron transport.
6) Evidence of long-distance electron tunneling in substantia nigra pars compacta tissue obtained from conductive atomic force microscopy tests.
7) Evidence of ultraviolet light protection provided by ferritin in the retina and skin cells.
8) Evidence of an electrical interaction between ferritin and melanin that may be used by the cochlea and skin cells.
9) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to saltatory conduction.
10) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to the disruption of saltatory conduction by multiple sclerosis.
11) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to heart electrical activity.
12) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to atrial fibrillation.
13) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to macular degeneration due to lipofuscin production following buildup of ferritin in response to inflammation.
14) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to cancer by providing an iron-independent mechanism that stimulates cancer cells.
15) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to Parkinson’s Disease when it is disrupted.
16) Evidence that electron transport associated with ferritin may contribute to the mitochondrial electron transport chain.
17) Evidence of long-distance electron transport associated with ferritin that may contribute to magnetosensation.
Recent scholarly activity:
• Speaker, “Ferritin-based Neural Signaling Mechanism Hypothesis and Evidence,” IEEE Brain Discovery and Neurotechnology Workshop, University of Illinois, Chicago (October 2024)
• Speaker, “A Case for Testing Ferritin-Assisted Deep Brain Stimulation?,” The 1st Conference of Magnetic Technologies and Clinical Applications in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota (August 2023)
• Poster presentation, “Electron tunneling in ferritin and associated biosystems,” Gordon Research Conference, Emerging Methodologies to Investigate Quantum Effects in Biology, Galveston, TX (March 2023)
• Speaker, “The Hard(ware) Problem of (Machine) Consciousness: Why a special purpose processor and associated processing architecture is needed for cognitive process/conscious action selection mechanisms,” Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Workshop on Systems Neuroscience Approach to General Intelligence (SynAGI), Washington, DC (February 2023)
• Speaker, “Quantum collapse associated with electron tunneling in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) tissue,” Hitchhiker’s Advanced Guide to Quantum Collapse Models, Rome Italy (October 2022)
• Speaker, “Modeling Action Selection in Large Substantia Nigra Pars Compacta Neurons,” Models of Consciousness 3 Conference, Association for Mathematical Consciousness Science, Stanford University (September 2022)
• Poster presentation, Quantum Science Concepts in Enhancing Sensing and Imaging Technologies: Applications for Biology—A Workshop, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (March 2021)
• Speaker, “Indication of quantum mechanical electron transport in substantia nigra tissue from conductive atomic force microscopy tests,” Workshop on Quantum Effects in Biological Systems, Puebla, Mexico (October 2019)
Recent publications:
Perez, Ismael Diez, et al. "Electron tunneling in ferritin and associated biosystems." IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications 9.2 (2023): 263-272.
Rourk, Christopher, et al. "Indication of strongly correlated electron transport and Mott insulator in disordered multilayer ferritin structures (DMFS)." Materials 14.16 (2021): 4527.
Rourk, Chris. "Application of the catecholaminergic neuron electron transport (CNET) physical substrate for consciousness and action selection to integrated information theory." Entropy 24.1 (2022): 91.
Rourk, Christopher J. "Functional neural electron transport." Advances in Quantum Chemistry. Vol. 82. Academic Press, 2020. 25-111.
Rourk, Christopher J. "Indication of quantum mechanical electron transport in human substantia nigra tissue from conductive atomic force microscopy analysis." Biosystems 179 (2019): 30-38.
Rourk, Christopher John. "Ferritin and neuromelanin “quantum dot” array structures in dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta and norepinephrine neurons of the locus coeruleus." Biosystems 171 (2018): 48-58.
Forthcoming research:
Deep brain sensing and stimulation of rat substantia nigra pars compacta and ventral tegmental area in vivo.
Other activities:
Patent attorney in private practice.
Company: