Grant: Project Grant

It is estimated that by 2023, 8.54 million Canadians will be living with obesity, making these individuals susceptible to other chronic conditions especially type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The morbidity and mortality caused by these chronic diseases are estimated to cost Canadians, an estimated $11 billion in annual healthcare costs. Now more than ever it is critical to study underlying mechanisms of obesity development to prevent unwarranted unhealthy conditions and stop the increased prevalence of T2DM in Canadians. Fat tissue biology has been studied for decades, however, many unanswered questions remain about how it increases lipid storage, releases fat into the circulation and communicates with surrounding tissues to regulate body weight. Understanding this network and defining how to burn fat is a desirable endpoint for new therapies targeting obesity. Our studies aim to understand how gut-derived hormones may influence fat tissue that control whole body energy balance. To explore these ideas, we will use primary tissue and cell culture models of fat tissues to identify pathways involved in selective activation of these hormone systems. Further, we will examine these pathways in mice models that will tease out how particular proteins may lead to protection against insulin resistance in fat tissue. In mice models, we will study what happens to body weight, food intake, and sugar and fat regulation when we remove protein receptors specifically from the fat tissue. We will do this by selectively removing receptors in brown fat (expends excess energy as heat, unlike white fat that stores energy) that are controlled by signals from the fat tissue itself. We expect our studies will enhance our understanding of how gut derived hormones regulate body metabolism, blood sugar, and fat levels. Here, we can establish which bodily tissue is responsible for energy regulation thereby providing insight treatments for combating obesity and T2DM.