Harpreet Kaur, Ph.D.

Harpreet Kaur is a research assistant professor working with Catherine Kaczorowski in the Department of Neurology, at the University of Michigan. She obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Panjab University, India and did five-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Dakota with Colin Combs. Her research involves a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the neuroprotective/therapeutic potential of natural products such as lycopene, curcumin and probiotics in neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). For the last six years, her research is focused on understanding if and how altered gut microbiota influence cognitive functions and disease progression in mouse models of AD. Her previous research findings provide evidence that the enteric nervous system, in addition to the central nervous system, is affected in AD, supporting the role of gut-brain axis in pathophysiology of AD. Currently, Kaur is investigating the complex interactions between the host genetics, environmental factors (diet, gut microbiota) and AD. She has received several awards including best paper and travel awards from the Asian Pacific Society for Neurochemistry (APSN) and the International Brain Research Association Asia Pacific Research Committee (IBRO-APRC). In 2017, she received anAlzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship (2017-2020). In 2022, she received another Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship award) to investigate sex dependent effects of gut microbiota manipulation in AD.

Principal Investigator: Catherine Kaczorowski

Fellow: Sara Smith

Undergraduate Fellow Project: Gut microbiota manipulation and peripheral inflammation in Alzheimer disease
Alzheimer disease (AD) is a multifactorial disease, characterized by cognitive dysfunction and progressive memory decline. It is caused by a complex interaction between genetic, lifestyle and environmental risk factors. Recent studies suggest the involvement of gut microbiota in regulation of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in AD. Our current project involves understanding the sex difference in gut microbiota manipulation in AD. Previously, using a mouse of AD, we found that microbiota manipulation using probiotic from 2-4 months of age improved memory and decreased amyloid beta plaques, gliosis and brain cytokines in females but not in male mice. Interestingly, probiotics had minimal effects on gliosis, memory or Aβ plaque load in old females and male AD mice. Based upon these findings, we hypothesize that sex hormones contribute to both sex and age differences in response to probiotic manipulation. Currently, we are performing fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from younger AD females fed with probiotic to older AD mice. Along with it, in order to test direct involvement of gut microbes in AD, we are performing FMT from diseased to non-disease mice and doing neurobehavioral testing (for anxiety, learning and memory). Following the completion of behavior testing, tissues will be harvested for biochemical and molecular studies.