UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Monique Balthazar, assistant professor in the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing at Penn State, has received a career development award from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Aging that is expected to provide about $1.03 million over five years to investigate how sleep health, biological factors and neighborhood conditions may be related to cognitive decline and risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).
Poor sleep is associated with cognitive decline and elevated levels of biological markers of ADRD, such as tau proteins and beta-amyloid protein fragments. The mechanisms linking sleep and cognitive health, however, are not fully understood, according to Balthazar. Her project will examine one potential factor influencing the relationship: lipid metabolism. This encompasses the processes through which the body breaks down and transforms fats, including into molecules that help regulate inflammation.
Her study focuses on specialized pro-resolving mediators, or SPMs, a group of lipid-derived signaling molecules that help the body resolve inflammation
“We know that poor sleep is linked to cognitive decline, and inflammation in the brain may be part of that connection,” Balthazar said, pointing to a previous study by others in the field suggesting SPMs play a role in neuroinflammation and Alzheimer’s disease. “Studying SPMs can help us examine whether the body’s ability to resolve inflammation is one of the pathways linking sleep and brain health.”
This research builds on her prior work, including a 2022 study in which Balthazar and colleagues examined sleep, cognition and inflammatory biomarkers among 76 cognitively healthy, middle-aged adults with a parental history of Alzheimer’s disease. They found that among Black participants, poorer sleep quality was associated with higher levels of an inflammatory biomarker called intercellular adhesion molecule-1, or ICAM-1, in cerebrospinal fluid. The finding added to evidence that inflammation may play a role in the relationship between sleep and cognitive decline, Balthazar noted.
Balthazar’s current project will use longitudinal data and biological samples from the Einstein Aging Study, a national study of older adults funded by the NIH’s National Institute on Aging. She will use this data to examine how SPMs are associated with cognition, ADRD biomarkers and sleep health. In each analysis, she also will consider neighborhood quality, to determine whether the associations differ depending on where people live.
“Where we live influences our health,” Balthazar said. “That is why we’re testing whether sleep and biological markers relate to cognitive health in different ways for people in different neighborhoods.”
The findings may help clarify some of the biological and social mechanisms associated with cognitive decline and inform approaches to ADRD screening, prevention and treatment, Balthazar said
Balthazar’s research team from Penn State includes Donna Fick, Elouise Ross Eberly Endowed Professor of Nursing and director of the Tressa Nese and Helen Diskevich Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence; Orfeu Buxton, Elizabeth Fenton Susman Professor of Biobehavioral Health and director of the Sleep, Health and Society Collaboratory; and Stephanie Lanza, professor of biobehavioral health. Omonigho Michael Bubu, associate professor of psychiatry, neurology and population health at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, will also serve on the mentorship team. Penn State faculty members Gregory Shearer, professor of nutritional sciences, and Christopher Engeland, professor of biobehavioral health and nursing, will provide complementary expertise as research collaborators.
The project, “Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators, ADRD Biomarkers, and Sleep: A Multilevel Investigation of Cognitive Health in the Einstein Aging Study,” is supported by a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award, number K23AG088471, from NIH’s National Institute on Aging. The project period will run through June 2031. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Last Updated November 3, 2026
Contact
Chloe Reichel
- cbr5778@psu.edu
