Neuroimmune disease research receives NIH grant funding

Creighton University is known for student involvement in research, and in July, a continuation grant of over half a million dollars was approved for a research lab helmed by Annemarie Shibata BS, PhD, a biology professor who’s guiding research into antiviral responses in the brain, which has the potential to help with treatments for diseases like multiple sclerosis.  

“We’re really looking at fundamental mechanisms of antiviral responses in the brain, using a particular mouse model to address those questions, and the mouse model itself has been used extensively to try to study mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease like multiple sclerosis,” Shibata explained.  

She also clarified that the research that she was leading was focused on antiviral responses in general and not solely on MS treatments, in contrast to what most believe.  

“It’s not that there isn’t relevance.  The mouse model is used to study MS, but we’re trying to work toward understanding whether these long non-coding RNAs are also going to be relevant for human neurodegenerative processes.” Shibata continued.  

The mouse model is the primary way that Shibata has been conducting the lab’s research. From her description, the mouse model refers to the experiment in which two different strains of mice are introduced to an antigen, then when one mouse responds effectively, another is unable to resist demyelination and other symptoms of viral infection.  

“Our grant compares those two model systems in an attempt to understand what the differences in gene regulation during the viral infection are,” Shibata explained.  

The grant for the project, formally titled “Regulation of the Microglial Neuroimmune Response by Non-Coding RNAs,” was renewed because of the success of the student work, according to her.  

“NIH (National Institutes of Health) sees that this money is training students in the way that they would like them to be trained,” Shibata relayed.  

That’s the advantage of the student-involved research labs at Creighton, she posited. The teaching obligations of the professors at Creighton mean that there’s an incentive to involve students in research that matters, and that’s ultimately what leads to the approval of the R15 grant, 3 years prior to its eventual renewal.  

For the students that Shibata has been working with, the research laboratory has been important for broadening their horizons and deepening their understanding of what research can do for them. One of those students, senior and psychology major Elle Stiles, said that she’s interested in continuing research, even as she hopes to get into healthcare.  

“I never really considered it, but it’s definitely an opportunity I wouldn’t immediately say no to,” Stiles added.  

According to Stiles, one of the major things that surprised her during her experience in undergraduate research with Shibata was how much of an impact that she had on the research.  

“We have a graduate student in our lab, and he’s constantly coming up with new procedures. And then some of the other undergrads are helping him. So, there’s opportunities for you to contribute to new experiments that haven’t been done before,” Stiles said.  

Despite the success of the lab, Shibata reports that it was a surprise when the grant was renewed as there was a moment in time when the grant had run out. However, her progress reports and consistent communication with the program officer and grants administrator helped renew it. 

“With the change in the administration, I was really concerned about what was going to happen because they are less likely to fund research,” Shibabta said. 

Shibata also maintained that it’s the dedication from her students that helped her stay optimistic, and that they deserve the credit for the success of the lab. She explained that when her lab had been covered before, the students’ roles would get cut from news stories too interested in the multiple MS angles of it all.  

“After we were done talking [to the news crew], I was going around the lab saying, this student’s doing this, the student’s doing this, the student’s doing this. And none of that information was put into the WOWT [story].” Shibata said. 

One of her students who was interviewed by the Omaha-based news organization was Rory Petersen, a senior majoring in neuroscience. Petersen has been working with Shibata since last Halloween, and his interview was cut from WOWT’s story entirely.  

“Like, I think they had a misunderstanding of what exactly our research was,” Petersen said.  

His role in Shibata’s lab is to measure the regulation of microglial cells in response to the presence of a neurological virus. His data is being used to help build an artificial intelligence that can measure the markers that they put in the mice that they’ve been studying.  

 “To do that,” Petersen explained, “you have to go in and annotate exactly what’s going on.”  

This work has helped him gain a deeper understanding of the research that’s he’s been doing for almost a year.   

Just as Shibata highlighted the importance of her students, Petersen emphasized the importance of being a part of a research team.  

“One person’s success is, in a way, everybody’s success,” he remarked.