Supporting the NIH Roadmap Initiative for Interdisciplinary Research

We have assembled the best investigators and technology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to focus on a major medical problem in the U.S. - obesity and the associated constellation of metabolic disorders referred to as the metabolic syndrome (atherogenic dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, prothrombotic and proinflammatory states). This grant will support the efforts of investigators from diverse disciplines to examine the behavioral, metabolic, and molecular mechanisms that cause obesity and the metabolic syndrome. The major focus of our project is the brain and liver, organs that play central roles in the development of obesity and its adverse metabolic consequences.

The primary goal of this work is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which the brain regulates food intake and energy expenditure and to determine how dysregulation of glucose and lipid metabolism in the liver causes the metabolic syndrome. Our longer-term goal is to develop more directed approaches to prevent obesity and treat the metabolic complications of this disorder.

To address these objectives, we have developed four research teams with different areas of expertise that will interact extensively to pursue the shared goals of this project. Collaborations among investigators will occur at two levels: between individual investigators and between the four teams. To ensure our goals are met, we established the Taskforce for Obesity Research at UT Southwestern (TORS). TORS will integrate the traditionally disparate disciplines of neuroendocrinology, genetics, lipid metabolism, intermediary metabolism, and clinical epidemiology into a cohesive center to study obesity and the metabolic syndrome.