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.
Jason Moody, PhD
Faculty Mentor – Barbara Bendlin, PhD
Improving early detection, staging neurodegeneration, and identifying risk factors along the biological and clinical Alzheimer’s disease continuum
My research uses quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to detect and stage neurodegenerative, microstructural brain changes along the biological and clinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) continuum. Using markers of microstructural neurodegeneration derived from various diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) models, I am currently assessing the relationships between changes in brain tissue microstructure, age, cerebrospinal fluid markers of AD pathology, and AD clinical status in hundreds of aging adults. I am particularly interested in the potential for novel DWI metrics to be able to detect the earliest manifestations of pathological brain alterations associated with AD (years before the onset of clinical symptoms) as well as differentiate between distinct stages of AD, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD clinical syndrome. I am also interested in using these DWI techniques to identify genetic, environmental, and acquired risk factors for AD dementia, with a current focus on examining the relationships between metabolites impacted by the gut microbiome and brain alterations associated with AD.
Keenan Pearson, PhD
Faculty Mentor: Rozalyn Anderson, PhD
The impact of aging occurs at multiple levels, from whole organism to tissue, cellular, and molecular levels.
My research in aging biology seeks to uncover new insights and therapeutic targets that I expect will be highly translatable given the strong genetic similarity between rhesus monkeys and humans. My first project uses unbiased molecular profiling approaches (transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic, metabolomic) to identify health and aging signatures and will test their potential as therapeutic targets for intervention in age-related diseases. My second project uses aptamer technology to identify novel surface markers unique to aged cells, and to use these new tools to advance research, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
Predoctoral Scholars
Dylan Duerre
Faculty Mentor – Andrea Galmozzi, PhD
Adipose tissue dysfunction in aging
Adipose tissue is a central mediator of physiologic metabolism and is implicated in the development of age-associated metabolic disorders. Adipose tissue dysfunction increases with age and often underlies the development of obesity, insulin resistance and type II diabetes (T2D). A prominent feature of aging is the loss of brown adipose tissue (BAT) depots, which are uniquely thermogenic and serve as a metabolic sink via mitochondrial uncoupling. Activation of BAT increases metabolic rate and has been demonstrated to increase energy expenditure in humans. Furthermore, the density of BAT and “beiging” (i.e. the emergence of brown-like adipocytes) in WAT depots is associated with improved metabolic function. My research focuses on identifying adipocyte-intrinsic metabolic and signaling processes that govern the adoption and maintenance of thermogenic machinery, and how these processes change during aging and in metabolic disease development. Identification of pathways regulating adipocyte function and stress responses may reveal new avenues for therapeutic intervention and lead to a novel class of anti-obesity therapies.
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.