Reji Babygirija, PhD, a postdoctoral scientist in the Wisconsin Surgical Laboratory in Metabolism (WiSLiM), has been awarded a UW Distinguished Research Fellowship. This fellowship program was established by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research to support outstanding postdoctoral trainees in interdisciplinary research areas related to UW’s Research, Innovation, and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative. The program will provide Babygirija with $186,000 over the next two years to support her research.
Babygirija recently completed her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology with Dr. Dudley Lamming in the UW Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, where her research examined preclinical mouse models of dietary interventions that could prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. She now plans to extend her pre-doctoral research to define how targeting the gut-brain axis can improve brain health and treat Alzheimer’s disease, and will do so working under the mentorship of both Assistant Professor of Minimally Invasive Surgery and WiSLiM director Dave Harris, MD and Department of Chemistry Professor Samuel Gellman, PhD.
“There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that obesity and diabetes are significant risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, and because of that link there is interest in identifying or repurposing treatments that target obesity and diabetes as therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Babygirija. “Chief among the treatments of interest are bariatric surgery and the drugs that mimic the actions of incretin hormones, such as semaglutide (popularly known as Wegovy®) and tirzepatide (popularly known as Zepbound® and Mounjaro®). These drugs are also called incretin mimics.”
For her fellowship research, Babygirija will use mouse modeling and a collection of cells from human patients with Alzheimer’s disease that can be transformed into mini-brains (called neuronal organoids) to study how known and novel incretin mimics and sleeve gastrectomy – the most popular form of bariatric surgery – influence brain health and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Her long-term goal is to pursue a tenure-track faculty position and establish an independently-funded research lab that focuses on the interface of aging, metabolism, and neurodegenerative diseases. Funding from the UW Distinguished Research Fellowship is a critical first step to provide her with additional training that will not only support her professional goals, but will also offer critical insights that could unveil new targets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
“I’m incredibly proud of Reji for securing this fellowship award, and thrilled to serve as her primary mentor,” said Harris. “With the team’s combined expertise, we can make true advancements in the field of Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics and answer long standing questions about how metabolic therapies indirectly and directly impact brain health and what properties of drug design are ideal to help us realize these impacts.”