Henry Ruiz

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Henry Ruiz, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences at New York Institute of Technology. He trained as a behavioral neuroscientist at Queens College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he earned his doctorate in neuropsychology. During his postdoctoral tenure at the Icahn School of Medicine, Ruiz utilized animal models to establish hypothalamic insulin resistance as a pathological link between Alzheimer's disease and obesity, and contributed to the paradigm shift that alternatively activated macrophages do not synthesize catecholamines or contribute to adipose tissue adaptive thermogenesis. While at New York University (NYU), Ruiz studied the mechanisms by which advanced glycation end products (AGEs) contribute to metabolic dysregulation both in rodents and human subjects. At New York Tech, he looks forward to inspiring future young scientists in the classroom and continuing to advance our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning obesity, and associated metabolic disorders with an emphasis on adipose tissue biology and central nervous system regulation of neuroendocrine systems.

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Arivazhagan L, Popp CJ, Ruiz HH, Wilson RA, Manigrasso MB, Shekhtman A, Ramasamy R, Sevick MA, Schmidt AM. The RAGE/DIAPH1 axis: mediator of obesity and proposed biomarker of human cardiometabolic disease. Cardiovasc Res. 2024 Feb 17;119(18):2813-2824. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvac175. Review. PubMed PMID: 36448548.
• Zhou C, Ruiz HH, Ling L, Maurizi G, Sakamoto K, Liberini CG, Wang L, Stanley A, Egritag HE, Sanz SM, Lindtner C, Butera MA, Buettner C. Sympathetic overdrive and unrestrained adipose lipolysis drive alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis in rodents. Mol Metab. 2023 Dec;78:101813. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101813. Epub 2023 Sep 29. PubMed PMID: 37777008; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10590866.
• Wilson RA, Arivazhagan L, Ruiz HH, Zhou B, Qian K, Manigrasso MB, Bernadin R, Mangar K, Shekhtman A, Li H, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. Pharmacological antagonism of receptor for advanced glycation end products signaling promotes thermogenesis, healthful body mass and composition, and metabolism in mice. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023 Jul;31(7):1825-1843. doi: 10.1002/oby.23774. Epub 2023 May 25. PubMed PMID: 37231626; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10790363.
• Ruiz HH, Nguyen A, Wang C, He L, Li H, Hallowell P, McNamara C, Schmidt AM. AGE/RAGE/DIAPH1 axis is associated with immunometabolic markers and risk of insulin resistance in subcutaneous but not omental adipose tissue in human obesity. Int J Obes (Lond). 2021 Sep;45(9):2083-2094. doi: 10.1038/s41366-021-00878-3. Epub 2021 Jun 8. PubMed PMID: 34103691; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8380543.
• MacLean M, Juranek J, Cuddapah S, López-Díez R, Ruiz HH, Hu J, Frye L, Li H, Gugger PF, Schmidt AM. Microglia RAGE exacerbates the progression of neurodegeneration within the SOD1(G93A) murine model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a sex-dependent manner. J Neuroinflammation. 2021 Jun 15;18(1):139. doi: 10.1186/s12974-021-02191-2. PubMed PMID: 34130712; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8207569.
• Senatus L, MacLean M, Arivazhagan L, Egaña-Gorroño L, López-Díez R, Manigrasso MB, Ruiz HH, Vasquez C, Wilson R, Shekhtman A, Gugger PF, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. Inflammation Meets Metabolism: Roles for the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products Axis in Cardiovascular Disease. Immunometabolism. 2021;3(3). doi: 10.20900/immunometab20210024. Epub 2021 Jun 2. PubMed PMID: 34178389; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8232874.
• Gannaban RB, NamKoong C, Ruiz HH, Choi HJ, Shin AC. Central Regulation of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Is Mediated by AgRP Neurons. Diabetes. 2021 Jan;70(1):62-75. doi: 10.2337/db20-0510. Epub 2020 Oct 28. PubMed PMID: 33115827; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7881842.
• Arivazhagan L, Ruiz HH, Wilson RA, Manigrasso MB, Gugger PF, Fisher EA, Moore KJ, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. An Eclectic Cast of Cellular Actors Orchestrates Innate Immune Responses in the Mechanisms Driving Obesity and Metabolic Perturbation. Circ Res. 2020 May 22;126(11):1565-1589. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.120.315900. Epub 2020 May 21. Review. PubMed PMID: 32437306; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7250004.
• Ruiz HH, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. Advanced Glycation End Products: Building on the Concept of the ""Common Soil"" in Metabolic Disease. Endocrinology. 2020 Jan 1;161(1). doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqz006. Review. PubMed PMID: 31638645; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7188081.
• Ruiz HH, Becker S, Bai Y, Cortes-Burgos LA, Eckersdorff MM, Macdonald LE, Croll SD. Pharmacological inhibition of NPY receptors illustrates dissociable features of experimental colitis in the mouse DSS model: Implications for preclinical evaluation of efficacy in an inflammatory bowel disease model. PLoS One. 2019;14(8):e0220156. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220156. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 31369588; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6675069.
• Hurtado Del Pozo C, Ruiz HH, Arivazhagan L, Aranda JF, Shim C, Daya P, Derk J, MacLean M, He M, Frye L, Friedline RH, Noh HL, Kim JK, Friedman RA, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. A Receptor of the Immunoglobulin Superfamily Regulates Adaptive Thermogenesis. Cell Rep. 2019 Jul 16;28(3):773-791.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.06.061. PubMed PMID: 31315054; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6686683.
• Ruiz HH, López Díez R, Arivazahagan L, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. Metabolism, Obesity, and Diabetes Mellitus. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2019 Jul;39(7):e166-e174. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.119.312005. Epub 2019 Jun 26. PubMed PMID: 31242034; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6693645.
• MacLean M, Derk J, Ruiz HH, Juranek JK, Ramasamy R, Schmidt AM. The Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE) and DIAPH1: Implications for vascular and neuroinflammatory dysfunction in disorders of the central nervous system. Neurochem Int. 2019 Jun;126:154-164. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2019.03.012. Epub 2019 Mar 20. Review. PubMed PMID: 30902646; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10976457.
• Fischer K, Ruiz HH, Jhun K, Finan B, Oberlin DJ, van der Heide V, Kalinovich AV, Petrovic N, Wolf Y, Clemmensen C, Shin AC, Divanovic S, Brombacher F, Glasmacher E, Keipert S, Jastroch M, Nagler J, Schramm KW, Medrikova D, Collden G, Woods SC, Herzig S, Homann D, Jung S, Nedergaard J, Cannon B, Tschöp MH, Müller TD, Buettner C. Alternatively activated macrophages do not synthesize catecholamines or contribute to adipose tissue adaptive thermogenesis. Nat Med. 2017 May;23(5):623-630. doi: 10.1038/nm.4316. Epub 2017 Apr 17. PubMed PMID: 28414329; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5420449.
• Shah N, Ruiz HH, Zafar U, Post KD, Buettner C, Geer EB. Proinflammatory cytokines remain elevated despite long-term remission in Cushing's disease: a prospective study. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2017 Jan;86(1):68-74. doi: 10.1111/cen.13230. Epub 2016 Oct 3. PubMed PMID: 27630017.
• Ruiz HH, Chi T, Shin AC, Lindtner C, Hsieh W, Ehrlich M, Gandy S, Buettner C. Increased susceptibility to metabolic dysregulation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease is associated with impaired hypothalamic insulin signaling and elevated BCAA levels. Alzheimers Dement. 2016 Aug;12(8):851-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2016.01.008. Epub 2016 Feb 28. PubMed PMID: 26928090; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5358328.
• Knight EM, Ruiz HH, Kim SH, Harte JC, Hsieh W, Glabe C, Klein WL, Attie AD, Buettner C, Ehrlich ME, Gandy S. Unexpected partial correction of metabolic and behavioral phenotypes of Alzheimer's APP/PSEN1 mice by gene targeting of diabetes/Alzheimer's-related Sorcs1. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2016 Feb 25;4:16. doi: 10.1186/s40478-016-0282-y. PubMed PMID: 26916443; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4766719.
• Jeong JH, Lee DK, Blouet C, Ruiz HH, Buettner C, Chua S Jr, Schwartz GJ, Jo YH. Cholinergic neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus regulate mouse brown adipose tissue metabolism. Mol Metab. 2015 Jun;4(6):483-92. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2015.03.006. eCollection 2015 Jun. PubMed PMID: 26042202; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4443291.
• Krellman JW, Ruiz HH, Marciano VA, Mondrow B, Croll SD. Behavioral and neuroanatomical abnormalities in pleiotrophin knockout mice. PLoS One. 2014;9(7):e100597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100597. eCollection 2014. PubMed PMID: 25000129; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4085064.

Professional Honors and Awards

• Keystone Symposia Fellow, 2023
• NIH/NIDDK Research Scientist Career Development Awardee, 2020
• Endocrinology (ENDO) Meeting Awardee, 2019
• American Heart Association Obesity Fellow, 2018–2020
• Future Leaders Advancing Research in Endocrinology (FLARE) Fellow, 2016
• Scholarship Plus Mentor Excellence, 2014

Courses Taught at New York Tech

• BIOL 110
• BIOL 456

Contact Info

• hruiz02@nyit.edu
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