A distinguished research scientist affiliated with Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Mary Elizabeth Baugh, has been accorded a prestigious Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. This significant grant will facilitate her in-depth investigation into the intricate ways in which metabolic health impacts the neural systems governing our eating patterns and choices.
The comprehensive four-year grant is earmarked to underwrite Baugh’s scientific inquiry into the specific mechanisms by which conditions like obesity and insulin resistance exert influence over reward learning processes and decision-making faculties within the human brain.
“This funding represents a pivotal step in the establishment of my independent research trajectory, concentrating on the complex interplay between metabolic functions and the brain’s processes that ultimately shape our dietary habits. The core of this endeavor will be to illuminate the subconscious biological drivers that underpin human relationships with food,” stated Baugh, who conducts her investigations within the laboratory of Alex DiFeliceantonio. This research group is dedicated to unraveling the motivations behind our food consumption and its broad-ranging effects on both the body and the brain.
Baugh’s academic background includes the attainment of both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in the fields of nutrition and exercise physiology. Prior to embarking on her doctoral studies, she dedicated two years to serving as a registered dietitian at the Wake Forest Baptist Weight Management Center. Subsequently, she returned to Virginia Tech to successfully complete her doctoral degree, specializing in physiology and metabolism.
The pervasive challenges posed by obesity and its associated metabolic sequelae, such as Type 2 diabetes, constitute a formidable public health concern within the United States. While prior scientific explorations have indicated that obesity is correlated with alterations in brain structure and neural activity, a more granular understanding is sought regarding how these neurological modifications translate into observable, day-to-day behaviors, including the learning derived from food-related rewards and the cognitive processes involved in selecting what to consume.
Pearl H. Chiu, a distinguished professor at the institute and a co-sponsor of Baugh’s research project, is a recognized expert in the domain of computational psychiatry. She contributes her extensive proficiencies in the modeling of complex human behaviors, the computational analysis of the human brain’s function during decision-making scenarios, and her proven success in mentoring emerging scientific talent.
Baugh’s research initiative is designed to explore precisely how the presence of excess body adipose tissue and variations in insulin sensitivity impact two crucial behavioral dimensions: the manner in which individuals learn from the gratification derived from food consumption, and the decision-making frameworks they employ when faced with choices regarding food and other forms of reward.
I am consistently impressed by Mary Elizabeth’s unwavering dedication to comprehending the psychological and neurological foundations of decisions, issues she directly observed patients contending with during her tenure as a registered dietitian. This project ingeniously merges her practical experience in dietary guidance with her advanced laboratory learning concerning brain function and the mechanics of decision-making.”
Alex DiFeliceantonio, assistant professor and interim co-director of the institute’s Center for Health Behaviors Research
Baugh’s comprehensive study integrates a variety of methodologies, including behavioral experiments, sophisticated neuroimaging techniques, and advanced computational modeling. The overarching aim is to achieve a more profound understanding of how metabolic signals originating from the body influence the neural circuits that are actively engaged in everyday learning and the complex behaviors associated with eating.
The ultimate objective of this research is to elucidate the intricate interaction between metabolic and neural signals and their collective influence on eating behaviors and the maintenance of energy balance. This deeper comprehension is anticipated to pave the way for the development of more individualized and effective therapeutic strategies for managing obesity and metabolic disorders.
Baugh intends to leverage the resources provided by this award to significantly enhance her proficiency in crucial areas such as cognitive and appetitive neuroscience, the computational modeling of decision-making processes, and the application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques employed in the study of brain activity during tasks involving reward evaluation.
This groundbreaking project is slated to continue through November 2029 and will serve as the cornerstone of Baugh’s ongoing research program at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, located in Roanoke.
