Title: “Investigating how fat talks to the brain”
Abstract: Fat cells secrete hormones that impinge on neural circuits to regulate hunger, exercise, reproduction and immunity. We study how fat hormones -adipokines- control physiology in healthy and dysfunctional states. We take advantage of the deep, and unexpected, evolutionary conservation between fat-brain communication in flies and humans. Our studies have revealed mechanisms by which fat cells couple nutrient state to secretion, as well as how hormonal regulation of synapses sets body-weight. Now, we have identified an unexpected mechanism by which adipokines are retained during fasting, and demonstrated that this node of adipokine regulation has a systemic impact on hunger-driven feeding motivation and ability of an organism to survive metabolic stress. I will discuss these recent findings and some future implications of this work.
Thursday, February 4, 2021 at 12:45 pm. Join by Zoom.
Hosted by Drs. Elizabeth Rideout and Mark Cembrowski