Grant: Operating Grant

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Canada is in the middle of an obesity epidemic with over 35% of the population categorized as obese and an equal number identified to be overweight. Obesity is a complex condition that has extensive socioeconomic consequence, including substantial financial burden on the health care system and on the Canadian economy with an estimated cost of $7.1 billion split between health care cost and lost productivity. Therefore, it is important to think about the factors involved that cause obesity in order to identify new treatments that can reduce the socioeconomic and disease burden. Obesity is directly tied to increased fat storage and larger fat mass through formation and enlargement of white fat cells. Thus, the main focus of my research project is to connect how an obese individual's genes and the environment control their stem cells to make more fat cells resulting in weight gain. Stem cell from healthy and obese patients will be used to study the genetic factors and signals that are different during white fat cell formation in healthy versus obese individuals. This will allow us to understand and identify some of the main causes of obesity and develop new treatments that will reduce obesity. In addition, the study will create methods for transforming white fat into the energy burning and weight reducing brown fat from human stem cells derived from obese individuals, which would provide another method for treating obesity. In conclusion, the ultimate goal of my research is to build human fat cell models using stem cells obtained from healthy and obese individuals to connect abnormal fat formation and obesity, which will result in better understanding of this incapacitating disease and establishment of both new and improved treatments for obese individuals.