Laura Lorentzen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chairperson, Department of Biology
Office Location
Hennings Research Hall, 1st Floor C-124
Email
Phone
Laura (Mackey) Lorentzen is an Associate Professor of Biology at Kean University. She has over twenty years’ experience in undergraduate STEM teaching and curriculum development, both as an administrator and as a faculty member. Awarded in 2023, she is the principal investigator (PI) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. She is a past president of the New Jersey Academy of Science, and past Editor-in-Chief of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) Magazine, and a Forum Advisory Board Member for the national research honors society Phi Kappa Phi.
Courses Taught
- General Biology
- Biology Senior Seminar
- Neuroscience
- Cell Physiology
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Non-majors Biology
Areas of Expertise
- Biomedicine
- Physiology
- Cell & Molecular Biology
- Molecular Evolution
Teaching Philosophy
Make connections to what you already know when acquiring new knowledge.
Selected Publications
- Rafail C. Christodoulou, Laura Lorentzen, Daniel Eller and Evros Vassiliou (2026) Long-Chain Fatty Acids as Drivers of Neuroinflammation in Neurodegeneration: Mechanistic Links to Lipid Peroxidation, Ferroptosis, and Mitochondrial Dysfunction. Nutrients 2026, 18(9), 1392; DOI: 10.3390/nu18091392
- Christodoulou, R., Vamvouras, G., Lorentzen, L., and Vassiliou, E. (2025) Erythrocyte load in cerebrospinal fluid linked with hippocampal atrophy in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Clinical Medicine. DOI: 10.3390/jcm14134670
- Shumskaya, M., Filippova, N., Lorentzen, L., Blue, S., Andrew, C., Lorusso, N. (4 Jan 2023) Citizen Science Helps in the Study of Fungal Diversity in New Jersey. Scientific Data 10:10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01916
- This research was featured Sept 2023 by YES!Magazine as part of a larger story about fungi in NJ: https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2023/09/12/fungi-mycology-community-conservation.
- Shumskaya, M., Mishra, S., Lorentzen, L. (2020) Online Low Stakes Assignments to Support Scientific Lab Report Writing in Introductory Science Courses. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education 21(3):21.3.73 Tips & Tools DOI https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v21i3.2183
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7747881/
- Baucom, C., Bate, J., Ochoa, S., Santos, I., Sergios, A., Lorentzen, L. and Reilly, K. (2020) The Epidemiology of the AIDS Pandemic: Historical, Cultural, Political, Societal Perspectives and Knowledge of HIV. Journal of Student Research 8(2):30-38. All published articles in this journal are accompanied by a media file, ours is WeTransfer Link: https://we.tl/t-Xtqj8pYjr6
- Lorentzen, L., Reilly, K. and Lorentzen, K. (Fall 2020) Things that go bump in the night. Phi Kappa Phi Forum (PKP) Magazine 100(3):14-16. Article on sleep paralysis across cultures.
- Lorentzen, L. (Sept 2021, pages 1-2) Together or Apart? Lecture with Laboratory, or Taken Separately? LifeSciTRC.org (Life Science Teaching Resource Community) PECOP Blog https://blog.lifescitrc.org/pecop/ (Physiology educators' perspectives on educational issues)
- Mackey Lorentzen, L., Reilly, K., Baucom, C., and Manheim, E. (7 Feb 2021) Published and peer-reviewed “Auggie’s Story: a child with Huntington disease” original, flipped classroom case study from National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University of Buffalo, State University of New York. Case published for over 20K case study teaching at: https://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/collection/detail.html?case_id=1161&id=1161