Research Interests: Genetics of fat regulation and neurobiology of feeding behavior Summary: Obesity is a major risk factor associated with many diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, arthritis, and certain forms of cancers. The prevalence of obesity reflects the combination of high calorie diets with sedentary lifestyles. However, genetic predispositions play profound roles in determination of an individual's fat. How genetic and environmental factor interact to determine fat content and how excess fat accumulation causes disease processes are poorly understood. To identify genes that underlie fat regulation we use the genetically tractable worm C. elegans. This system has allowed us to discover novel fat regulatory pathways, compounds that alter fat content, and probe the neural circuits that regulate fat and feeding.
Publications
Dietary restriction promotes neuronal resilience via ADIOL.
The steroid hormone ADIOL promotes learning by reducing neural kynurenic acid levels.
Identifying lipid particle sub-types in live Caenorhabditis elegans with two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging.
Better living through communal eating.
Neural production of kynurenic acid in Caenorhabditis elegans requires the AAT-1 transporter.
Spectroscopic coherent Raman imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans reveals lipid particle diversity.
Intestinal peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation regulates neural serotonin signaling through a feedback mechanism.
Tau/MAPT disease-associated variant A152T alters tau function and toxicity via impaired retrograde axonal transport.
Kynurenic acid accumulation underlies learning and memory impairment associated with aging.
Phenotypic, chemical and functional characterization of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) as a potential anthelmintic drug target.
Investigating Connections between Metabolism, Longevity, and Behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Conserved Genetic Interactions between Ciliopathy Complexes Cooperatively Support Ciliogenesis and Ciliary Signaling.
Neural Regulatory Pathways of Feeding and Fat in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Insights and challenges in using C. elegans for investigation of fat metabolism.
OCT1 is a high-capacity thiamine transporter that regulates hepatic steatosis and is a target of metformin.
Loss of a neural AMP-activated kinase mimics the effects of elevated serotonin on fat, movement, and hormonal secretions.
AMP-activated kinase links serotonergic signaling to glutamate release for regulation of feeding behavior in C. elegans.
Analyses of C. elegans fat metabolic pathways.
A whole-organism screen identifies new regulators of fat storage.
Regulation of C. elegans fat uptake and storage by acyl-CoA synthase-3 is dependent on NR5A family nuclear hormone receptor nhr-25.
mTOR complex-2 activates ENaC by phosphorylating SGK1.
Caenorhabditis elegans as an emerging model for studying the basic biology of obesity.
Rictor/TORC2 regulates Caenorhabditis elegans fat storage, body size, and development through sgk-1.
Fat rationing in dauer times.
C. elegans fat storage and metabolic regulation.
A TRPV channel modulates C. elegans neurosecretion, larval starvation survival, and adult lifespan.
Neural and molecular dissection of a C. elegans sensory circuit that regulates fat and feeding.
Serotonin regulates C. elegans fat and feeding through independent molecular mechanisms.
Impaired processing of FLP and NLP peptides in carboxypeptidase E (EGL-21)-deficient Caenorhabditis elegans as analyzed by mass spectrometry.
Obesity and the regulation of fat metabolism.
Mapping out starvation responses.
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