Current Projects

To identify and determine optimal levels of intake of nutrients from supplement or foods that can diminish risk for age-related cataract and macular degeneration in human cohorts.
To develop algorithms for predicting risk for
To elucidate pathophysiologic mechanisms that relate consuming higher glycemic index diets to increased risk of age related macular degeneration, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and cellular mechanisms to remove the glycatively induced damage. This involves discovering relationships between glycative stress, function of proteolytic machinery, and cytotoxicity.
To identify other behavioral or physical parameters, i.e., obesity, insulinemia, which are related to risk for cataract and age-related macular degeneration.
To elucidate aspects of the ubiquitin proteolytic pathway that regulate cell cycle and proliferation, lens differentiation (specifically cell denucleation), cell motility, and elicit inflammatory responses in the retina.
Modeling age- or oxidation-related stress and find means to alleviate the stress in cell culture and animal experiments.
To examine how nutritional factors alleviate age- or oxidation-related stress induced damage.
To identify the mechanisms and roles of specific genes and/or proteins by which calorie restricted diets or lower glycemic index diets extend youthful function.
To understand cellular ubiquitin dynamics by identifying changing ubiquitin conjugate patterns when different ubiquitins are expressed or cells are stressed.

Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging - Tufts University