Biographical Sketch

I, Karen P. Briski, Ph.D., am an academic researcher and administrator with credentials and expertise in the neuroscience disciplines of reproductive neuroendocrinology and brain metabolic monitoring.  I am Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroanatomy, and Head, Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM).  I completed my doctoral degree education the Department of Anatomy, University of Michigan Medical School, and postdoctoral training in the Reproductive Neuroendocrine Laboratory, Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph Meites, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology.  My department provides unique research and instructional expertise in the interrelated disciplines of pharmacology, pharmaceutics, and medicinal/natural products chemistry to the state, region, and nation at large. It occupies a unique niche in ULM and the University of Louisiana System, and is essential to the educational, research, and service missions of these institutions.  As Department Head, I nurture vital goals and objectives that aim to improve and advance the unit’s research culture and perspective, serve faculty needs, and guide it to a leadership role within the ULM academic community. Important aspects of my tenure in that role include recruitment and retention of talented and adept faculty, acquisition of a research infrastructure that supports cutting-edge research activities, identification of funding for inter-disciplinary research initiatives that exploit the department’s numerous strengths, and the pursuit of a state-wide and regional reputation for excellence in research in the pharmaceutical sciences.  Those efforts are facilitated by the development and implementation of a long-term strategic plan that outlines the department’s current situation, its aspirations, and as viable mechanisms for attaining the goals it has established for itself.  Faculty development has been a major positive element in the department’s growth. Under my direction, a mechanism for mentoring of junior faculty by senior members on issues relating to research and teaching was established, along with a formal third-year review process intended to provide constructive feedback to assistant professors prior to the tenure/promotion review process.  I have worked to increase individual and team-based research productivity and establish a critical mass of established, extramurally-funded research programs, through creative strategies, including informal departmental research forums and emphasis on cross-disciplinary communication and brainstorming.

Over my career, my research has been/is funded as Principal Investigator by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Louisiana Board of Regent Support Fund. I have published more than 100 peer-revised manuscripts on neuroscience research.  I supervise, train, and mentor doctoral students, and lecture on a number of topics in the School’s professional Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.  I strive to expose my trainees to multi-faceted investigative approachs that integrate complimentary neuroanatomical, physiological, molecular biological, and pharmacological techniques to address pivotal hypothesis-driven research on complications of metabolic disorders.  My laboratory is currently engaged in developing novel methods for high-resolution characterization of activated, multi-neuron brain pathways.  Our functional mapping strategy involves the unique pairing of micro-particle induced X-ray emission (µPIXE) spectrometry with compatible state-of-the-art laser-catapult microdissection/molecular biological analyses as a means to identify brain circuity components by neuroanatomical location, neurochemical identity, and receptivity to energetic and endocrine cues. 1) Energy balance is a key determinant of reproductive success in females. Fertility in women and other mammalian species declines when energy supply cannot meet metabolic demands.  The ESHRE Workshop Group on Nutrition and Reproduction in Women notes that energy deficiency is highly correlated with reduced frequency or cessation of ovulation. Our technology development supports funded work aimed at characterizing neural networks that repress reproductive neuroendocrine function in the brain in response to metabolic deficiency.  2) Neuron-glial cell metabolic coupling involves nerve cell import of fuel substrates for high demand aerobic respiration.  Glial glycogen is a critical energy fuel reserve as enhanced astrocyte glycogen mass alleviates neuron dysfunction and demise during hypoglycemia.  As our studies show that estrogen enhances glycogen metabolism during hypoglycemia, our current aims to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms of hormonal regulation of astrocyte glycogen mass, as we expect that such knowledge can be leveraged to develop neuro-protective therapies against hypoglycemic brain injury.  3) Eating behavior is a complex interplay of physiological, psychological, social, and genetic factors that influence meal timing, quantity of food intake, and food preference.  The ideal circumstance of unfettered ability to eat-at-will, in response to the above drives, can be impractical in reality; indeed, short-term suspension of food intake, planned or unplanned, is often unavoidable and unpredictable in modern life.  Reduced eating frequency, e.g. meal omission, in human subjects negatively affects appetite control.  We have developed a novel experimental model for transient disruption of fuel acquisition, leading to discovery that estradiol mitigates acute and post-acute adverse effects of interrupted feeding.  Ongoing work aims to identify potential targets for therapeutic mitigation of rebound food consumption and amplified diversion of fuel to storage.

Research Interests

Our laboratory is engaged in the development of novel methodology for high-resolution characterization of activated, multi-neuron brain pathways.  Our functional mapping strategy involves the unique pairing of micro-particle induced X-ray emission (µPIXE) spectrometry with compatible state-of-the-art laser-catapult microdissection/molecular biological analyses as a means to identify brain circuity components by neuroanatomical location, neurochemical identity, and receptivity to energetic and endocrine cues.

i.   Energy balance is a key determinant of reproductive success in females.  Fertility in women and other mammalian species declines when energy supply cannot meet metabolic demands.  Indeed, the ESHRE Workshop Group on Nutrition and Reproduction in Women [2006] notes that energy deficiency is highly correlated with reduced frequency or cessation of ovulation. Our technology development supports funded work that seeks to characterize the neural network that represses reproductive neuroendocrine function in the brain in response to metabolic deficiency. 

ii.   Proposed research will this combinatory tool to investigate the premise that Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery diminishes accumulation of important trace elements in the brain, and that consequent decline in micro-mineral loading of critical oxidative stress/energy metabolic enzymes impairs brain defenses against bio-energetic insults including stroke. 

iii.   Neuron-glial cell metabolic coupling involves nerve cell import of fuel substrates for high demand aerobic respiration.  Glial glycogen is a critical energy fuel reserve as enhanced astrocyte glycogen mass alleviates neuron dysfunction and demise during hypoglycemia.  As our studies show that estrogen enhances glycogen metabolism during hypoglycemia, current work by our group seeks to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms of hormonal regulation of astrocyte glycogen mass, as we expect that such knowledge can be leveraged to develop neuro-protective therapies against hypoglycemic brain injury. 

iv.  Eating behavior is a complex interplay of physiological, psychological, social, and genetic factors that influence meal timing, quantity of food intake, and food preference.  The ideal circumstance of unfettered ability to eat-at-will, in response to the above drives, can be impractical in reality; indeed, short-term suspension of food intake, planned or unplanned, is often unavoidable and unpredictable in modern life.  Reduced eating frequency, e.g. meal omission, in human subjects negatively affects appetite control. We developed a novel experimental model for transient disruption of fuel acquisition developed by our group, leading to discovery that estradiol mitigates acute and post-acute adverse effects of interrupted feeding.  We aim to identify potential targets for therapeutic mitigation of rebound food consumption and amplified diversion of fuel to storage.

Awards & Honors

August 2013 ULM Foundation Research Excellence Award.

Courses Taught

PHAR 4011Pharmacology I, 4 course(s)

PHAR 4012Pharmacology II, 1 course(s)

PHAR 4036Pharmacology Lab, 1 course(s)

PHAR 4065Problems, 3 course(s)

PHAR 5016STERILE PRODUCTS, 4 course(s)

PHAR 5022Adv Pharmacology Lab, 1 course(s)

PHAR 5051DIRECTED STUDY, 14 course(s)

PHAR 5099THESIS, 12 course(s)

PHAR 6051ADVANCED DIRECTED STUDY, 18 course(s)

PHAR 6099DISSERTATION, 59 course(s)

PHRD 4008PHARMACEUTICS I, 5 course(s)

PHRD 4012PATHOPHYSIOLOGY I, 15 course(s)

PHRD 4029PHARMACEUTICS II, 3 course(s)

PHRD 4035PATHOPHYSIOLOGY II, 6 course(s)

PHRD 4058Neurology & Psychiatry Module, 1 course(s)

PHRD 4072THERAPEUTICS II, 3 course(s)

PHRD 4074ENDOCRINE MODULE, 6 course(s)

PHRD 4083GASTRO NUTRITION & HEPTIC MOD, 2 course(s)

PHRD 5027BONE AND JOINT MODULE, 3 course(s)

PHRD 5039THERAPEUTICS VII, 1 course(s)