UWM senior honored for undergr Sarah Philippi was honored in May by the national Council of Undergraduate Research as one of just 60 students from around the country chosen to present their research work at Posters on the Hill in Washington, D.C. She is only the second student ever from UWM selected for this honor, and the second in two years. Math and physics major Kirill Shmilovich was chosen last year. She attended a reception and had the opportunity to visit Wisconsin congressional members and staff to discuss the importance of federal funding for research. Philippi has been working with Karyn Frick, professor of psychology, since the second semester of her first year at UWM. Their work focuses on the neurobiology of learning and memory. “This is a tremendous honor because Sarah was the only one in Wisconsin selected,” Frick said. “The fact that she was able to go and represent not only our lab, but also UWM, is fantastic because it showcases the quality of undergraduate research at UWM. It’s a great opportunity for the university to shine.” In addition to her selection for Posters on the Hill, Philippi was one of seven UWM Senior Excellence in Research Award winners for 20182019 and was admitted to five of the top neuroscience PhD programs throughout the country, according to Frick. Philippi has decided to continue her research on Alzheimer’s disease in the doctoral program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
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• IN FOCUS • June, 2019
Sarah Philippi (right) was one of only 60 students from around the country chosen to present their research work at Posters on the Hill in Wa of psychology, since the second semester of her first year at UWM on the neurobiology of learning and memory. (UWM Photo/Elora Henness
Over the past year, she’s been studying how sex, the potent hormone 17ß-estradiol, and the genetic risk factor APOE4 interact to influence the incidence and severity of Alzheimer’s disease, using mice specially bred to exhibit Alzheimer’s pathology. The mice are tested on a variety of behavioral tasks to examine these interactions. The work involves two genetic variants of the lipid-carrying protein Apolipoprotein E termed APOE3 and APOE4, the latter of which is the leading
genetic risk factor for developing the most common form of Alzheimer’s. Women who carry the APOE4 variant are at far greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than men, and are less responsive to the beneficial effects of estrogen therapy. Philippi’s work is designed to figure out why. The results of this project will provide sorely needed information regarding the causes of Alzheimer’s, a disease that disproportionately affects women in general, Philippi said.
