Research

Members of the Center for Research in Obesity and Nutrition investigate a wide range of topics, including human physiology, metabolism, nutrition, immunology, inflammation, aging, and exercise, all in the context of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and nutrition-related diseases. Recent publications from center members are highlighted here:

Epigenome environment interactions accelerate epigenomic aging and unlock metabolically restricted epigenetic reprogramming in adulthood. Treviño LS, Dong J, Kaushal A, Katz TA, Jangid RK, Robertson MJ, Grimm SL, Ambati CSR, Putluri V, Cox AR, Kim KH, May TD, Gallo MR, Moore DD, Hartig SM, Foulds CE, Putluri N, Coarfa C, Walker CL. Nat Commun. 2020 May 8;11(1):2316. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15847-z. PMID: 32385268

Aromatase Inhibitors Plus Weight Loss Improves the Hormonal Profile of Obese Hypogonadal Men Without Causing Major Side Effects. Colleluori G, Chen R, Turin CG, Vigevano F, Qualls C, Johnson B, Mediwala S, Villareal DT, Armamento-Villareal R. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020 May 15;11:277. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00277. PMID: 32499757

Vitamin D Receptor Activation in Liver Macrophages Ameliorates Hepatic Inflammation, Steatosis, and Insulin Resistance in Mice. Dong B, Zhou Y, Wang W, Scott J, Kim K, Sun Z, Guo Q, Lu Y, Gonzales NM, Wu H, Hartig SM, York RB, Yang F, Moore DD. Hepatology. 2020 May;71(5):1559-1574. doi: 10.1002/hep.30937. PMID: 31506976

A POMC-originated circuit regulates stress-induced hypophagia, depression, and anhedonia. Qu N, He Y, Wang C, Xu P, Yang Y, Cai X, Liu H, Yu K, Pei Z, Hyseni I, Sun Z, Fukuda M, Li Y, Tian Q, Xu Y. Mol Psychiatry. 2020 May;25(5):1006-1021. doi: 10.1038/s41380-019-0506-1. PMID: 31485012

Gut Hormone GIP Induces Inflammation and Insulin Resistance in the Hypothalamus. Fu Y, Kaneko K, Lin HY, Mo Q, Xu Y, Suganami T, Ravn P, Fukuda M. Endocrinology. 2020 Sep 1;161(9):102. doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqaa102. PMID: 32603429

The Center for Research in Obesity and Nutrition research program integrates expertise across several institutions of the Texas Medical Center:

• Baylor College of Medicine
• Ben Taub Hospital
• Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
• Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
• USDA/ARS Children’s Research Nutrition Center
• Texas Children’s Hospital

This network provides extensive opportunities and access to resources and equipment while encouraging formation of new scientific collaborations.

Baylor College of Medicine operates over 25 Advanced Technology Core Labs that provide additional services to enhance studies in the areas of metabolomics, proteomics, pathology, and genomics.

Baylor College of Medicine has established many Research Centers to further support on-going research efforts.