Jessica Yue, recipient of the Amgen Stewart Whitman CLC Young Investigator Award, in her lab
Jessica Yue of the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has been awarded the Stewart Whitman Young Investigator Award by the Canadian Lipoprotein Conference.
The Young Investigator Award is aimed at emerging scientists who are conducting lipid or lipoprotein research and are transitioning to a career as an independent investigator. Only one of these awards is given out each year.
"Winning the award felt wonderful. I'm very grateful, because when you're entering the lipids research field it's nice to be recognized for your potential at this early stage, and that's what the young investigator award is about," said Yue. "This award was chosen by a panel of national and international judges so it means that much more."
Yue's research, which was featured by the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry in January 2015, focuses on how the brain can use fatty acids, which are the building blocks of fat molecules, to trigger the liver to reduce its own lipid production. Regulating fat metabolism can potentially stop the development of cardiovascular disease. The award offers $20,000 for Yue to help launch her research.
"This research is so important because we've found with obesity and obesity-related metabolic diseases there are certain signaling defects that can occur in different parts of the body, including the brain. So by being able to identify these potential mechanisms in the brain it gives you another alternative as a method to treat," said Yue. "Being able to discover new pathways to offer new solutions is great."
In the future, Yue believes it's possible that medications administered orally or intranasally could deliver molecules that enter the brain through the blood-brain barrier in low enough concentrations that they don't have side effects on other organs.
"You can do something that doesn't affect the periphery so you don't see other unwanted effects, but it can impact the brain directly at targeted spots," said Yue.
Yue is thankful for the support she's had from her department, her faculty mentors Richard Lehner (Director, Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids) and Peter Light (Director, Alberta Diabetes Institute), and the Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, who encouraged her to attend the conference. Yue is a member of both the Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids and the Alberta Diabetes Institute.
"Everyone has been very supportive and encouraging," said Yue. "I'm looking forward to continuing my research, and building up a great lab and research team."