Dr. Puchowicz's research takes a targeted metabolic approach to studying regulatory pathways related to intermediary metabolism of brain and whole body energy metabolism. The use of stable isotope tracer and mass spectrometry technologies enables the discovery of regulatory mechanisms that relate tissue injury, neuropathologies and mitochondrial dysfunction to defects in fatty acid, protein, ketone body or glucose regulation. The translational aspects of Dr. Puchowicz's work bridge pharmaceutical and basic science research and are aimed at obtaining a greater understanding of metabolic disturbances associated with oxidative stress and defects in energy metabolism of various organ systems, with emphasis on brain. Dr. Puchowicz's expertise on studying the regulation of lipid, carbohydrate, protein and energy metabolism includes applications and analysis using stable /radio labelled isotopes of heavy water (2H2O, 18O, 17O) - to study energy expenditure, lipid and protein metabolism, as well as the use of 13C and 2H labeled compounds for tracing of metabolic pathways of whole body and organ systems such as brain, in vivo.
