Building research excellence in understanding causes of metabolic disease

Liz Scharnetzki, PhD, joins the Metabolic COBRE.  Her project aims to mitigate feelings of stigmatization among patients with type 2 diabetes through use of a self-affirmation intervention.

Congrats to Isha Agarwal, MD, PhD, CIPHR Faculty Scientist (and MCOBRE Project Leader) and Liz Scharnetzki, PhD, CIPHR Faculty Scientist, for a MaineHealth Innovation Ignite Fund Award. Their project is entitled: Using Natural Language Processing to Detect Bias in Emergency Department Clinical Notes  

First-trimester occupational exposures and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy among US nurses. Agarwal I, Wang S, Stuart J, Strohmaier S, Schernhammer E, Rich-Edwards J, Kang JH. Occup Med (Lond). 2023 Oct 20;73(7):419-426. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqad089. PMID: 37587907

Congrats to Matt Lynes, PhD, Faculty Scientist (and MCOBRE Project Leader) and David Seder, MD, MMC Critical Care Physician, for a Team Science Award from MHIR’s Acute Care COBRE! With this funding the research team will focus on the activity of brown adipose tissue as a potential therapeutic target in the post-resuscitation period and assess effects on glucose homeostasis and inflammation. By combining expertise in the areas of post-resuscitation cardiac arrest care (Dr. Seder) and brown adipose tissue biology (Lynes Lab) the team will take a team science approach to define patient subpopulations that benefit from therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest and identify a novel tissue target to mitigate post arrest alterations to glycemia, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Isha Agarwal, MD, PhD joins the Metabolic COBRE.  Project Title: The role of circadian disruption in metabolic dysregulation during and after pregnancy.

Effects of Prosocial and Hope-Promoting Communication Strategies on COVID-19 Worry and Intentions for Risk-Reducing Behaviors and Vaccination: Experimental Study. Scharnetzki E, Waterston L, Scherer AM, Thorpe A, Fagerlin A, Han PKJ. JMIR Form Res. 2023 Aug 1;7:e41959. doi: 10.2196/41959. PMID: 37379364 Free PMC article.

Antibodies to sclerostin or G-CSF receptor partially eliminate bone or marrow adipocyte loss, respectively, following vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Li Z, Qiu K, Zhao J, Granger K, Yu H, Lewis AG, Myronovych A, Toure MH, Hatsell SJ, Economides AN, Seeley RJ, MacDougald OA. Bone. 2023 Apr;169:116682. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2023.116682. Epub 2023 Jan 26. PMID: 36709915 Free PMC article.

Resident Attitudes Toward Performing Pelvic Examinations in the Emergency Department. Agarwal I, Sarma D, Burke RC, Babineau M, Benson S, Strout T, Bilello LA, Sanchez LD. Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2023 Feb 17;4(1):89-93. doi: 10.1089/whr.2022.0084. eCollection 2023. PMID: 36874233 Free PMC article.

Potential Mechanisms of Gut-Derived Extracellular Vesicle Participation in Glucose and Lipid Homeostasis. Feng T, Zhang W, Li Z. Genes (Basel). 2022 Oct 28;13(11):1964. doi: 10.3390/genes13111964. PMID: 36360201 Free PMC article. Review.

Katie Motyl, PhD (left) and Michaela Reagan, PhD, (right) were promoted to Faculty Scientist II positions.