Flier Lab: Research
Our Major Research Interests
- Identify the pathways that regulate metabolism and body weight
- Examine the role of these pathways in disease
- Utilize these insights to develop novel therapeutic strategies
This laboratory has long been interested in the regulation and dysregulation of metabolism, with greatest emphasis on the systems regulating appetite, body weight, metabolic rate, and glucose and lipid metabolism. The primary diseases on which we focus are diabetes and obesity, but we are also interested in endocrine disease more broadly, especially neuroendocrine disease. We are especially interested now in the physiologic mechanisms by which peripheral signals communicate to the brain, and how the brain exerts influence over peripheral metabolic events. A major current interest that spans all of our concerns is the hormone leptin, which is a critical hormone, produced largely in fat tissue, that signals to the brain (and other sites). We have for many years been interested in the actions of insulin, and the mechanisms for insulin resistance, Over the years, our work has involved human studies, experimental animal models (including genetically modified mice), and in vitro studies using genetic and biochemical techniques. We utilize whatever techniques are suitable to the questions that excite our interest.
