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Melanie Gubbels Bupp |
Randolph-Macon College
Biology Professor Melanie Gubbels Bupp has received a Mednick Memorial Fellowship.
Administration of the Mednick Memorial Fellowship is vested in the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) to encourage the professional development of college professors and improve their academic competence through fellowships for research and advanced study. A committee of VFIC business trustees and college presidents oversee the selection of research proposals for funding on an annual basis.
Gubbels Bupp, who joined the faculty at Randolph-Macon College in 2009, explains her areas of interest: “I’m broadly interested in studying medical problems associated with immunity,” she says. “Historically, I’ve worked on autoimmune conditions, such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, in which the immune response is directed against the patients’ own bodies as opposed to infectious pathogens. Currently my research is focused on understanding how the immune response changes in aging individuals and how caloric intake influences this process. Age-related deterioration of immune function likely contributes to higher rates of infection and diminished vaccination responses in the elderly, yet very little is known regarding the molecular pathways involved. Caloric restriction, a dieting regimen in which total caloric intake is reduced by 20%, has been reported to extend lifespan in several organisms, including primates and possibly humans. Interestingly, this extreme diet also appears to preserve immune function in aged organisms. Current projects in my lab are centered around the hypothesis that a particular gene, FoxO1, integrates information regarding the build-up of molecular stressors and food availability to regulate the aging process of individual cells.”
The Mednick Fellowship will fund Gubbels Bupp’s research to test the hypothesis that FoxO1 regulates the aging process of a specialized immune cell (T cells). “Identification of FoxO1 as a major regulator of T cell aging would be the first transcription factor identified to contribute to this process in mice,” she says. “A better understanding of the factors that govern age-related decline of immune function may lead to more effective vaccination strategies for the aged.” Three Randolph-Macon College students will assist Gubbels Bupp with her research this summer: Rebecca Davis ’13, Whitney Edwards ’12 and Erica Horseman ’11.
Gubbels Bupp earned her B.S. from Creighton University and her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.
For more information about R-MC's biology program, visit
http://www.rmc.edu/academics/biology.aspx.