Ginger Milne
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Pharmacology
How can we tell how much inflammation or oxidative damage is happening inside the body? One way is to measure the small fat-derived signaling molecules the body makes, often in urine or blood.
- Fields
Pharmacology
Biochemistry
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
lipid mediators
oxylipins
specialized pro-resolving mediators
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Feb 2029
What they work on
- Identify how four specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (RvE4, RvD1, RvD5 and maresin 2), molecules that help end inflammation, are chemically transformed using a laboratory model of human metabolism.
- Follow SPM metabolism in mouse models of human metabolism and inflammation, and measure SPM breakdown products in stored plasma and urine from the FADAFO fish-oil study.
- Test whether aspirin, ibuprofen and other NSAIDs change SPM metabolism, especially glucuronide attachment by UGT enzymes, in cellular and animal models.
- Identify breakdown products of F-isoprostanoids, oxidative-stress markers made from several polyunsaturated fatty acids, using human liver microsomes and mass spectrometry.
- Develop and validate an LC/MS method to measure F-isoprostanoid breakdown products in human urine, using samples from the FADAFO trial of olive oil versus fish oil.
More about the research
But these molecules are quickly broken down into other compounds. If researchers measure only the original forms, they may badly underestimate them. Two projects map how two families of oxidized lipid molecules are metabolized, or chemically transformed, in humans. The goal is to measure them accurately in health and disease.
Why it matters
Uncontrolled inflammation and oxidative stress are linked to atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, gum disease, long COVID, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease, frailty and aging. More accurate ways to measure pro-resolving lipids and isoprostanoid markers could improve the clinical trials and population studies that test anti-inflammatory and antioxidant therapies. They could also clarify whether common drugs like aspirin alter the body's natural inflammation-resolving signals.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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Camilia Martin
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Measure the pharmacokinetics and virus-blocking power of an anti-CMV neutralizing antibody added to CMV-positive human milk, testing whether it can reduce infection and immune cell infiltration.
The school
University of Alabama at Birmingham: 45 labs on PI Pages, $866M a year on research, 166 research doctorates a year.
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