My mother’s lifetime struggle with Type 2 Diabetes sparked my interest in metabolic disease. The etiology of metabolic disease is highly complex, poorly understood, and is associated with comorbidities such as chronic inflammation, Type 2 Diabetes and reproductive dysfunction. This complexity requires innovative perspectives to develop solutions. For this reason, I have sought out research training that diversified my skills and knowledge to prepare me for a career as an independent investigator at the intersections of immunology, metabolism, and reproductive science.

My research program will address the unknown cause of chronic inflammation in Type 2 Diabetes and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Free fatty acids are increased in Type 2 Diabetes and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Therefore, my research vision is to understand how immune cells decipher signals from and/or utilize free fatty acids to promote immunological function in health and disease. My immunology and metabolism training qualify me to build an extramurally funded research program conducting this line of research. I earned my doctorate at Loma Linda University (LLU) under Drs. Langridge and De Leon, where I discovered human fatty acid-specific antibodies. During my training, I was awarded the LLU Sigma Xi grant and NRSA F31 fellowship to help fund my dissertation demonstrating the ability of free fatty acids to bind to the pro-inflammatory Toll-like receptor 4, a mechanism previously disputed in the field of lipid immunology. My graduate work yielded ten publications (four first authorships).

To enhance my training as a Postdoctoral Fellow in immunometabolism, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Barbara Nikolajczyk at Boston University. In collaboration with Drs. Proctor and Laugffenburger at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I discovered that immune cells from people with Type 2 Diabetes preferentially metabolize glucose through anaerobic pathways to generate ATP due to a demonstrated adaptation of mitochondrial proteins. In this context, I revealed that T helper 17 cells rely on reduced fatty acid oxidation to secrete Th17 cytokines (Nicholas et al., under review in Cell Metabolism). On the basis of this work, I earned 2 travel awards, was invited for a research talk at LLU and was selected for an oral presentation at IMMUNOLOGY2017. I am currently training in a second postdoctoral fellowship supported by the prestigious President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego in the labs of Drs. Lawson and Mellon. During this fellowship, I have applied my background in immunometabolism to determine the role that androgens play in the development of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I have adapted flow cytometry to assess immune cell populations and pituitary cells in mouse Polycystic Ovary Syndrome models and discovered that the production of luteinizing hormone is dependent on glucose metabolism.

Beyond my success as a researcher (including 14 publications, 2 manuscripts under review, and my current work), I have received extensive training in teaching and mentoring diverse students in the classroom and laboratory. I attained a fellowship in the NIH/NIGMS-sponsored Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) program at UCSD. The IRACDA program provides opportunities for professional development and intensive teaching training through pedagogy and mentored teaching experiences at UCSD’s partner institution, San Diego State University. Under this fellowship, I continue to hone my mentorship ability, especially of underrepresented groups in science. I have trained more than fifteen mentees and all of my trainees thus far have either completed higher education in STEM fields or are currently pursuing degrees or further training in the sciences. I have mentored a range of students from high school to graduate students. In addition to mentorship, I have ample experience teaching in graduate level courses including guest lectures in RXPS 652 Medical Chemistry II at Loma Linda University, GMS MI 715: Immunological Basis of Disease at Boston University, and MBIO 610: Advanced Topics in Cell and Molecular Biology at SDSU.

My  immunometabolism program will integrate my knowledge of basic science research, high dimensional data analysis, mathematical modeling, and whole animal physiology to expand the understudied field of lipid immunology. It is my goal to ascertain the role of diet-induced inflammation in the expanding diabetes epidemic.