Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Brown adipose tissue (brown fat) generates body heat in newborn babies, young children, and other small mammals by burning calories. Brown fat is present in limited amount in most human adults and its malfunction has been implicated in the development of obesity. Interestingly, brown fat and skeletal muscles are derived from the same group of stem cells in the embryo. This study will test how small molecule microRNAs can direct muscle stem cells to generate more brown fat and thus explore an alternative approach to treat obesity by burning calories rather than limiting calories intake.