Samskrathi Sharma Receives AIChE Fellowship

Samskrathi Sharma is energized about her research into the circadian rhythm.

As part of her research, she studies how bacteria in the intestines affect the body's natural sleep-wake cycle. The gut microbiota influences not only the circadian rhythm but also a range of bodily functions including digestion.

Sharma, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, said she's drawn to looking at how organisms interact with their environments.

"In the Kuang lab, we look at phenotypes," she said. "We look at metabolism and immunity, but we go down in the details of how it works. It's the perfect mix of application and basic biology."

Sharma focuses on how the gut microbiota's role in the circadian rhythm regulates metabolism through the genes Nr1d1 and Nr1d2, which create proteins that inhibit other circadian mechanisms. They have also been implicated in metabolization of fats and carbohydrates in the gut.

"We found that when you knock it out, their circadian rhythms are disrupted in the intestine, and the male mice gain more weight when they are on a high fat diet," Sharma said. If they are eating a normal chow diet, they don't show any differences."

Sharma also found that once the microbiota is removed in the mice with inactivated genes, they do not have the same side effects. Her research indicates that the gut microbiota affects fat metabolization by communicating with Nr1d1 and Nr1d2.

Sharma shared her research at the Sixth International Conference on Microbiome Engineering in December 2023. There, she received an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Army Research Labs and the National Science Foundation.

"It was a great experience," Sharma said. "I met people who could be potential collaborators, and I got a lot of helpful input and feedback about my work."

Besides the project for which Sharma received the AIChE Fellowship, she is investigating another aspect of the microbiota's effects on the circadian rhythm. She has found that circadian rhythms for male mice have use methylation, a reaction where a methyl molecule is added to other proteins or molecules in the body. This process is dependent on the microbiota and is only seen in male mice. Sharma wants to understand why this process happens and how circadian rhythms are regulated in female mice.

"We're looking at a sex specific enzyme, and we want to see if you remove the enzyme from males, do they become more like the females," Sharma said.

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Zheng Kuang, who serves as Sharma's advisor, said that her research will lead to new insights about how sex differences can affect underlying biological mechanisms.

"Samskrathi is fantastic to work with," Kuang said. "She is very meticulous and always makes detailed, effective plans of experiments and projects. This fellowship helps her continue her research and share her latest findings with the community."