- My name is Sarah
Elzinga, and I'm a Ph.D.
postdoctoral scholar in
Dr. Eva Feldman's lab,
studying obesity and diabetes.
Obesity and diabetes
are an enormous problem
in the United States,
and around the world,
and with them come a multitude
of serious complications,
including nervous system complications.
Obesity, diabetes, and their
complications are affected
by so-called metabolic
overload, or taking in more food
than the body can effectively process.
Now this triggers, or worsens,
changes in glucose and
insulin concentrations
and signaling throughout the body.
Additionally, it increases
the body's levels of inflammation.
Now these things work together
in a vicious cycle, to
further worsen obesity,
diabetes, and their complications.
My interests lie in understanding
how metabolic overload,
changes in glucose and
insulin concentrations
and inflammation contribute
to neurological complications,
in particular, how they
affect diabetic peripheral
neuropathy, and cognitive decline.
Specifically, I'm working on understanding
how the inflammatory cGAS pathway
contributes to the disease.
In fact, we have data that shows that
when you simulate a diabetic environment,
by giving saturated
fatty acids, or insulin,
to cultured brain and peripheral nerves,
that this inflammatory
pathway is turned on.
The proteins in this
pathway are important,
because they represent potential
new therapeutic targets
for both diabetic peripheral neuropathy,
and cognitive decline.
