Grant: Project Grant

Ambient light is essential for human behavior and physiology, regulating daily rhythms that affect human body temperature, heart rate, sleep and mood. Light is also known to influence other biological process such as Vitamin D synthesis and gene expression. However, the effects of light on the white fat tissue just beneath the surface of our skin has not been tested. We have recently discovered a highly novel and as yet unreported light-sensitive signalling pathway in this fat cell population. This research represents the first steps in characterizing the way that light may control fat cell function in health and disease and it has implications for understanding the underlying causes of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease affecting increasing numbers of Canadians.