User:Sarah.Minucci

Research Topic

Mentor: Dr. Stephen Merrill
Working title: The Influence of Leptin on Inflammation in Adipose Tissue

I will be researching the influence of leptin in the body, especially regarding fat, inflammation and immunity. Leptin, a hormone secreted by fat and fatty tissue which has pro-inflammatory effects in the body, provides a link between nutritional intake and the immune system. Much is still unknown about these connections, and my goal is to create a mathematical model of some aspect of leptin's influence in the body.

Milestones & Goals

Week 1

Verification of leptin production and relation to amount of fat

• 3-5 pages of research paper
• Key research topics:
  • What is the relationship between fat and leptin?
  • Is it linear or exponential or something else?
  • What are the units involved?

Weeks 2-5

How are leptin levels related to amount of inflammation?

• 3-4 pages of research paper
• Key research topics:
  • Look for inflammatory molecules that are measured regularly that will help to gauge inflammation levels
  • A biomarker to quantify inflammation levels

Weeks 5-10

Choose one of the following directions and develop its relationship with leptin, inflammation & autoimmunity

• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Drug-induced autoimmunity
• Thyroid
• Sexual dimorphism of leptin levels

Research Log

Week 1 / / 6.1-5

• Introduction to differential equations
• Compiled research focus & milestones with Dr. Merrill
• Became familiar with RefWorks & library resources
• Became familiar with MatLab
• Read literature about my topic and found answers to the following questions via databases such as Medline and Web of Science
  • What is the rate of release of adipokines from fat?
  • When leptin is released, where does it go and what is its rate of metabolism?
  • What are the units involved in the metabolism rate?
  • How does leptin relate to fat?
  • Is the leptin-fat model linear?
  • How is leptin measured?
  • Is the leptin-fat relationship related to gender?
• Investigated free leptin vs. bound leptin

Week 2 / / 6.8-12

Monday

• Condensed research so far into questions answered
• Wrote part of research paper
• Started researching inflammation and leptin

Tuesday

• Researched bound and free leptin
• Wrote part of research paper
• Researched inflammation
• Found research that may point to an exponential relationship between leptin and fat
• Met with Dr. Merrill

Wednesday

• Focuses: BMI, inflammation
• Verified linear relationship between BMI and weight/fat - this could pose some problems for a linear model of leptin and fat
• Read articles linking inflammation to leptin (key words: thyroid, TNF, T-cells)

Thursday

• Compiled information and wrote several pages of paper about leptin/inflammation/immunity
• Met with Dr. Merrill - threw out linear model and opted to try some kind of quadratic model

Friday

• Organized wiki page
• Wrote about findings on leptin, inflammation, and immunity
• Wrote new proposal for mathematical model equations

Week 3 / / 6.15-19

Monday

• Finished Friday's paper
• Literature search for biomarkers of inflammation
• Investigated role of estrogen in obesity, breast cancer and the immune system

Tuesday

• Continued investigating biomarkers
• Met with Dr. Merrill

Wednesday

• Focus: quantifying the relationship between fat and inflammation
• Literature on inflammation in fat, sexual dimorphism in fat distribution and leptin levels

Thursday

• Created a visual model of a leptin/inflammation feedback loop (solidified our hypothesis)
• Responsible Conduct of Research training

Friday

• Solidified feedback loop
• Met with Dr. Merrill

Week 4 / / 6.22-26

Monday

• Played around with equations; fine-tuned
• Research on cytokines

Tuesday

• Continued working on equations
• Met with Dr. Merrill
• Tweaked equations
• Started final paper

Wednesday

• Worked on final paper

Thursday

• Worked on final paper and mid-REU presentation

Friday

• Met with Dr. Merrill
• Worked on presentation and final paper

Week 5 / / 6.29-7.3

Monday

• Worked on presentation
• Literature research on questions about SAT and measures of inflammation:
  • In the literature, how is inflammation described/measured?
  • How does VAT produce more inflammation than SAT?
  • How does TNF-alpha increase adipocyte apoptosis?

Tuesday

• Worked on presentation
• Met with Dr. Merrill
• Worked on visual representation of equations

Wednesday

• Worked on presentation
• Literature research on sexual dimorphism information and verification
• Visual representation of equations

Thursday

• Attended other students' midpoint presentations
• Updated wiki
• Attended graduate student's Master's thesis presentation

Friday

• OFF (Fourth of July holiday)

Week 6 / / 7.6-10

Monday

• Research on nonlinear systems & equilibrium points
• TikZ
• Writing about equations

Tuesday

• Writing about equations
• RCR training
• Evaluated L as a function of SAT

Wednesday

• Writing about equations
• MATLAB
• Met with Dr. Merrill

Thursday

• MATLAB simulations

Friday

• Updated wiki
• MATLAB simulation

Week 7 / / 7.13-17

Monday

• Mathematical analysis of cases of SAT values and their relationships with inflammation and leptin

Tuesday

• Analysis of cases
• Writing for final paper
• Read literature about possible applications of the model

Wednesday

• Read literature about possible applications of the model
• Met with Dr. Merrill
• Writing about system of equations
• Phase plane analyses of cases
• MATLAB simulations of cases

Thursday

• Writing about cases
• MATLAB simulations of cases

Friday

• Writing about cases
• Writing: motivation, introduction, research goals