Broadly, Mills seeks to understand how microglia, the primary immune cells in the human nervous system, regulate blood flow through the brain’s smallest blood vessels. In studies of the human genome, many of the genes that indicate risk for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) are found in microglia, suggesting that these cells play a role in the disease. One of the key indicators of AD is reduce blood flow through the brain, the earliest sign a person is developing the condition. As the disease progresses, blood flow to the brain can drop by over 25%, effectively starving neural cells. Microglia, as immune cells, are responsible for controlling brain inflammation, which in turn affects cerebral blood flow. Taken together, these factors all suggest microglia could be valuable drug targets for improving AD treatments.

An influential work in the Alzheimer’s field, known as the Rotterdam Study, reviewed 11,475 patient records and found that early and prolonged treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs protected against AD. These drugs are common, including pain medications like aspirin and ibuprofen, but the reason they help Alzheimer’s patients is unclear. They are also imperfect treatments. “These drugs have severe gastrointestinal toxicity, so if we can learn what specifically we want to target, we can think about a more precise method to make a better, safer drug,” explained Mills. Through advanced genetic and imaging methods, Mills will visualize the flow of blood through mice and measure how age and pain medication affect it. If pain medication offers no benefit beyond genetic perturbation, then a more precise target can be inferred, thereby aiding future therapeutic development. 

A former member of the cardiovascular training program at the CVRC, Mills attributes part of his success to the grant brewing sessions and mentorship he was able to access through the program. The K99 will assist his further development by providing access to training and materials that will make him more competitive for independent research faculty positions in the future. “I’ll be able to do experiments that we haven’t been able to do before,” Mills said. “My dream is to someday make cost-effective therapeutics for Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Dr. McKee, mentored by CIC Co-Director Coleen McNamara, MD, is deeply involved in community engagement efforts both within UVA and beyond. She received her medical training at the University of Otago in New Zealand before pursuing a master’s degree in Immunology and Inflammatory Disease at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. While presenting to the approximately 40 high schoolers attending her talk, she used her experience in both clinical and research settings to help delineate the two perspectives. “Imagine a cliff,” Dr. McKee explained. “Clinical medicine is like an ambulance that treats people who fall off the edge. Research science tries to build a fence to stop people from falling in the first place, and there are pros and cons to each approach.” She also described her current research and the importance of being an advocate for science in a national climate increasingly skeptical of research.

Speaking at Monticello High School is Dr. McKee’s latest community engagement effort. She has also volunteered at events that brought middle schoolers to Grounds, UVA’s Discover Medicine program, and Charlottesville’s local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter. Community service is one of Dr. McKee’s core values, having volunteered in international medical efforts and local programs throughout her professional and personal life.

Her efforts to bring UVA and the Charlottesville community together are already building new bridges. Dr. McKee’s Discover Medicine mentee attended her talk at Monticello High School. Another student who attended that talk subsequently sought out a clinical research rotation and will work at iPRIME this summer.

Dr. Abbate, for his part, has a long history of community outreach. Like Dr. McKee, he spoke about the career that brought him to UVA: an MD/PhD from the Campus Bio Medico University of Rome, Italy, a fellowship at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy, and a residency at Virginia Commonwealth University. He focused, however, on trying to excite the next generation to pursue science. “When I was a young student, people inspired me. Now, my job is to return that inspiration to the community,” Dr. Abbate said. He and the highschoolers discussed a variety of topics, ranging from practical concerns like how long an MD/PhD takes and his research projects to wider questions, like what motivates research and Dr. Abbate’s long-term goals. “It was a very rewarding experience—the students were very excited to learn about careers in science,” he recalled.

Community outreach and engagement is a core value of the CVRC and its researchers. Students and faculty interested in additional outreach opportunities should contact Dr. Christos Baryiames.