Puja Agarwal
Rush University, IL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Healthy diets are linked to slower memory and thinking decline, lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia, and less Alzheimer's disease (AD) damage in the brain. Why this happens in people is unknown.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
Alzheimer's disease
dementia
diet
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Examine whether long-term diet, nutrients and flavonoids relate to activated microglia, the brain's immune cells, in the hippocampus and mid-frontal cortex of autopsied brains from community cohorts of older adults.
- Test whether dietary factors relate to oxidized lipids in the brain, a marker of oxidative stress, using brain tissue and diet data from longitudinal aging cohorts.
- Assess how diet relates to blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's and nerve damage (phosphorylated tau, amyloid β 42/40, NfL, GFAP), exploring race and sex differences.
- Determine whether these blood biomarkers are associated with activated microglia or oxidized brain lipids measured at autopsy.
More about the research
Diet is something people can change, so knowing how it protects the brain could guide prevention for a growing aging population. Healthy diets are rich in antioxidant nutrients, flavonoids (plant compounds found in berries and tea) and essential fatty acids. Animal studies suggest these act on inflammation and oxidative stress, a type of chemical damage to cells. AD also differs by race and sex, and little is known about diet and brain health across diverse groups.
Why it matters
Older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias could benefit if diet-based prevention can be better targeted. Linking diet to brain inflammation, oxidative stress and blood biomarkers may support personalized nutrition and diet interventions designed for specific populations. This includes high-risk groups in which brain autopsy studies are rare.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jennifer Yokoyama
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Establish ASAC-specific diagnostic cutoffs for four plasma Alzheimer's biomarkers: Aβ42/40 and Tau-181 (markers of Alzheimer's protein pathology), neurofilament light (nerve fiber injury), and GFAP (astrocyte activation), using samples from the multi-center ACAD cohort.
Holly Elser
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Estimate how the level and duration of long-term PM2.5 exposure affect blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's pathology and brain injury (Aβ42/40, pTau217, GFAP, NfL) in the Penn ADRC cohort, using g-computation, a causal inference method.
Joseph Quinn
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Neuroscience
Collect and provide DNA, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and cerebrospinal fluid from healthy controls, people with mild cognitive impairment and people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
The school
Rush University: 7 labs on PI Pages, $139M a year on research, 26 research doctorates a year.
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