Congratulations, Paige Fletcher for Receiving the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award

Paige Fletcher

PhD candidate Paige Fletcher received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1F31ES028100.  The three-year fellowship is titled “Investigation of Docosahexaenoic Acid as a Potential Treatment for Particulate Induced Inflammation”.  This work is part of a NIH-funded collaborative research effort that her Mentor, Dr. Andrij Holian, has ongoing with Dr. James Pestka at Michigan State University.  

Paige’s dissertation project focuses on docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and its role as an anti-inflammatory dietary supplement that is commonly found in cold water fish.  Silica and certain nanomaterials are known to cause pulmonary inflammation and treatment is lacking.  Silica is considered an occupational exposure while nanomaterial exposures are expected to increase since there has been an increase in their use within various consumer products.  Although there has been extensive interest in the consumption of fish oil which contains docosahexaenoic acid; an omega-3 fatty acid shown to decrease inflammation the mechanism of its action remains unknown. This research will address the gap of knowledge in the field of inflammatory diseases in regard to understanding the mechanisms by which docosahexaenoic acid functions as an anti-inflammatory dietary supplement.

The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA predoctoral fellowship (F31) award is to enable promising predoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. The proposed mentored research training must reflect the applicant’s dissertation research project and is expected to clearly enhance the individual’s potential to develop into a productive, independent research scientist.