Postdoctoral Scholars
Dominique Baldwin, PhD
Faculty Mentor: Judith Simcox, PhD
Automated LC/MS workflow for the characterization of the inflammation driving lipidome
Inflammaging is the chronic, low-grade inflammation that occurs with age. As such, inflammaging is a critical mediator of various age-related disease, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD). Initial CVD risk assessment typically includes a lipid panel which characterizes low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and total triglyceride levels in the blood plasma. However, recent research suggests that this lipid panel does not equally predict CVD risk in different populations of patients. Fortunately, the Simcox lab has recently found that plasma arachidonic acid (ARA), which is a precursor to proinflammatory oxylipid species, correlates well with CVD risk. My research focuses on creating a mass spectrometry-based lipidomics workflow to quantify inflammation signaling oxylipids and their precursors that can be used for clinical diagnostic assessment of CVD risk and other inflammaging comorbidities.
Kyle Conniff, PhD
Faculty Mentor: Carey Gleason, PhD
Aging and dementia in Native American communities
As a statistician, I navigate two realms of research: statistical methodology assessment/development and applied-science statistical analyses. My statistical research focuses on assessing assumptions and their impacts on results within the time-to-event modeling framework. Primarily motivated by aging and dementia-related outcomes in observational Indigenous healthcare settings, I explore two main avenues of statistical research:
1. How do intricacies within data collection and structure influence the point estimates and predictive ability of our statistical models?
2. How do implicit assumptions in our modeling choices impact our results, and what are the most robust assumptions against these potential misspecifications?
On the applied science side, I examine factors for Native American research participants that are related to dementia diagnoses, dementia progression, and research participation. This includes social determinants of health, biomarkers, and demographic characteristics. Most of my work is focused on improving the aging health experience of our Native American Elders.
Predoctoral Scholars
Sam Reid
Faculty Mentor: Luigi Puglielli, MD, PhD
Overexpression of COASY effects on downstream acetylation machinery in the ER and aging
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is important for maintaining proteostasis in the secretory pathway as well as metabolic crosstalk between different intracellular compartments through the ER acetylation machinery. AT-1 along with SLC25A1 and SLC13A5 maintain the intracellular flux of citrate and acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). The COASY protein along with Pantothenic acid produces CoA in the cytosol, which is required for the biosynthesis of acetyl-CoA prior to being transported into the ER by AT-1. Previous models of AT-1 overexpressing mice as well as SLC25A1 and SLC13A5 overexpressing mice have shown behavioral phenotypes as well as metabolic responses suggesting that abnormal flux of acetyl-CoA from the cytosol to the ER could be mechanistically related to behavioral and metabolic differences. To expand on these previous findings, we are looking at the effects of overexpression of the COASY protein in mouse models to elucidate the potential metabolic consequences.
Sam Saghafi
Faculty Mentor: Dawn Davis, MD, PhD
Impact of Dietary Interventions on the Outcomes of Bariatric Surgery
Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) are highly prevalent diseases that negatively impact the normal aging process. Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective treatment for both obesity and T2D, with patients experiencing dramatic weight loss and many reaching remission of T2D. However, it is unclear how diet composition after surgery impacts weight loss and improvements to glycemia. My research is focused on assessing how modulating the levels of dietary protein that mice consume after bariatric surgery impacts weight loss, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and hormone secretion. I am particularly interested in studying how hormone signaling from the intestine to the pancreatic islet change in the context of bariatric surgery, and how this effects insulin secretion.
Nicole Wicker
Faculty Mentor: Snehal Chaudhari, PhD
Using C. elegans to understand microbe-host interactions in aging
It has been known for decades that the community of microbes inhabiting our gut can impact aging. Small molecule metabolites made by the gut microbiome represent the most dominant way our gut bacteria influence us. The mechanisms by which the gut microbiome affects aging are poorly understood. Research in this field is limited by the lack of preclinical models that can allow investigation of individual gut bacteria on molecular mechanisms underlying aging. My research aims to establish Caenorhabditis elegans as a new model organism for studying mammalian host-microbe interactions in aging. Novel high-throughput screening techniques will allow identification of bacterial molecules and host signaling mechanisms that underly microbiome-mediated aging phenotypes. Characterizing these mechanisms will increase our understanding of the biology of aging and will provide therapeutic targets to combat aging-associated diseases.