Graduate student wins funding for brain immune cell research
Chelsea Lukawy is a 2025-2026 Graduate Student Fellowship Award recipient.
Immunology & brain health: a potential new route to Alzheimer’s treatment
Chelsea Lukawy has always been curious about how the brain works. During her undergraduate studies, that curiosity grew into a deep interest in neuroscience, which then inspired her to study the relationship between the immune system and brain health. Today, she is a PhD student at the University of Manitoba, working on research that could help improve the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and open the door to new treatment approaches.
Chelsea is one of two students selected to receive the 2025–2026 Graduate Student Fellowship Award, a partnership between the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba that supports emerging dementia researchers.
Her current work focuses on immune cells in the brain and a protein called NUDT5. Under normal conditions, these immune cells help protect brain tissue by clearing debris and responding to injury or infection. In Alzheimer’s disease, however, these cells can become overactive and release inflammatory signals that damage healthy brain cells.
“My work aims to understand how to calm these immune cells,” Chelsea explains, “so they can still clear harmful proteins like amyloid beta, without damaging the neurons that are important for memory and thinking.”
The impact of Chelsea’s research
Early laboratory studies suggest that targeting NUDT5 may help reduce harmful inflammation while allowing these immune cells to continue doing their protective work. Chelsea’s research is helping determine whether this approach could one day slow disease progression.
Chelsea’s academic path reflects her interest in both brain science and immunology. She completed an undergraduate degree in molecular neuroscience before earning a master’s degree focused on immune cell signalling. Combining these two areas now allows her to study how inflammation contributes to Alzheimer’s disease and how it might be better balanced.
Chelsea’s interest in dementia research is also personal. Her husband’s grandmother lived with Alzheimer’s disease, and Chelsea saw how quickly her condition progressed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social interaction became limited. She remembers how her grandmother-in-law could still share stories from her childhood, yet the same conversations would repeat minutes later. Seeing those changes happen right in front of her made the impact of the disease feel very real.
Receiving the Graduate Student Fellowship Award has given Chelsea valuable support as she begins her doctoral research.
“This funding allows me to concentrate on my work and highlights how important it is to explore new treatment approaches,” she says. “For early-career researchers, it’s incredibly motivating to know that organizations like the Alzheimer Society believe in what you’re doing.”
The Alzheimer Society is proud to support local researchers like Chelsea and help advance dementia research in Manitoba. Learn more about the Graduate Student Fellowship Award here.
