Garilyn Jentarra, Ph.D.

While I was previously involved in research into Rett syndrome and other neurogenetic disorders, and still maintain an interest in that area, my work is currently focused primarily on Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous studies involved exploring the early effects of the APOE4 on brain energetics and involved multiple gene expression studies, which ultimately demonstrated that even in young APOE4 carriers, glucose metabolism is significantly altered. Current studies involve brain metabolomics research as well as research exploring the effects of microbes on the development of AD. Metabolomic studies have identified significantly altered short-chain fatty acid metabolism in the brains of AD patients, which suggests that dietary supplementation with specific fatty acids may help to delay progression of the disease. In addition, studies into the presence of microbes in the brain and their role in the development of Alzheimer's disease are ongoing. AD is associated with many immunological and inflammatory processes that occur in the brain tissue of patients. Amyloid beta, aggregation of which is a key marker of Alzheimer's disease, has been found to be a very strong antimicrobial peptide. Using 16s rRNA gene sequencing, we have found many bacterial gene sequences in brain tissue from both AD patients and normal controls, suggesting that the presence of bacteria in the brain is not unusual and perhaps implying that the molecules such as amyloid beta serve to restrict their growth. We have also found bacterial lipopolysaccharide and lipoteichoic acid present at high levels in brain tissue, which supports the finding of bacterial genetic sequences in the brain. Our work in AD mouse models has shown that there are dramatic differences in the gut microbial populations of mice engineered to express gene alleles associated with development of AD pathology. This suggests that the gene alleles associated with AD may substantially influence microbial populations in the body.

Alzheimer's Disease
Neurogenetic Disorders