Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton is an innovative and creative neuroscientist whose early insights led to the leadership position she holds today in the field of Alzheimer’s, the aging female brain and regenerative therapeutics to prevent, delay and treat the disease. Her passion for her research is matched only by the breadth of her welcoming of diversity to the scientific endeavor.
"When your vision is to do what no one else has done, you need to develop creative and innovative strategies and teams to achieve the goal."
Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD
The Brinton Lab has investigated mechanisms of bioenergetic and regenerative aging of the brain.
The brain is the most energetically demanding organ of the body and as such is acutely vulnerable to reduction in fuel supply, metabolic capacity and mitochondrial generation of ATP. Bioenergetic aging of the brain is a potential driver of the lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Brinton Lab research has demonstrated that ovarian steroids and neurosteroids are key mechanistic regulators of the bioenergetic and regenerative systems of the brain. Moreover, loss of ovarian hormones leads to activation of a sequence of compensatory responses that ultimately lead to development of Alzheimer's pathology.
Translationally, bioenergetic and regenerative pathways activated by ovarian steroids and neurosteroids provide the basis for personalized interventions that target stages of bioenergetic aging in both the female and male brain to prevent, delay and treat Alzheimer's disease.