Dr. Birgit Fogal was the recipient of the 2008 Marian Kies Award. During her graduate training Birgit worked in the laboratory of Dr. Sandra Hewett in the Dept of Neuroscience at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

Birgit's thesis focused on mechanisms by which inflammatory mediators contribute to the progression of neuronal injury following cerebral ischemia (or stroke). One such inflammatory mediator is the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β). While many lines of evidence suggest that changes in IL-1β levels and/or its signaling are deleterious to the injured brain, the cellular and biochemical mechanisms by which this occurs were still unknown.

To elucidate these pathways, Birgit developed an in vitro model system utilizing mixed neuronal/astrocyte cortical cell cultures to mimic the harmful effects of IL-1β and showed that IL-1β treatment increases hypoxic neuronal injury in a time- and concentration dependent manner. Utilizing this model, she showed that activation of IL-1 receptor type I signaling in astrocytes – but not neurons - was necessary for this injury. Furthermore, the injury was mediated by an enhancement of extracellular glutamate levels via increased cellular export by the cystine/glutamate antiporter (system xc-), subsequently resulting in excitotoxic neuronal cell death.

Overall her findings highlight the potential importance of astrocytes to the pathology of cerebral ischemia and specifically identified alterations in system xc- as a novel contributor to the development and progression of injury. Considering the important role of IL-1 signaling in the pathology of a number of other neurological disorders, these findings may have wider therapeutic applicability.

Birgit is currently performing a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Scott Rivkees. Pictured above are Dr. Fogal being presented the Kies Award by Dr. Jean Harry at the 39th ASN meeting in San Antonio, Tx.