Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Diet induced obesity, and corresponding metabolic dysfunction (ie. type 2 diabetes) is a major health issue for many Canadians, but we continue to lack long-term effective treatments. Many individuals who are obese have co-morbid conditions including depression. One of the most commonly reported manifestations of depression is altered sleep patterns, including too much or too little sleep, as well as altered food reward seeking. Here I will investigate how diet induced obesity alters sleep and reward in a mouse model. Furthermore, I will look at how different genetic profiles may be driving these behaviours. A key feature of this proposal is the use of behavioral and genetic endpoints that are defined, collected, and analyzed in the same ways in rodents as in humans. This will provide novel gene targets for the treatment of depression in individuals who are obese, a mood disorder with historically ineffective treatments in the obese population.