Genetics Of Obesity And Energy Metabolism

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The main aim of this project is to identify the genetic and/or molecular cause(s) of obesity in humans. We use gene sequencing techniques to identify polymorphisms in candidate genes for obesity. We use a human neurobiology microarray to study the differential gene expression in post-mortem brain samples from obese and lean adult donors. In the past year we have: a) continued the identification of SNPs in the fatty acid synthase gene (FAS); b) continued a collaborative effort with other institutions to maintain a brain bank specialized in brain samples from obese donors; c) completed gene expression experiments in the hypothalami of 5 obese and 5 lean donors; d) continued an exploratory study to use proteomics for the identification of proteins differentially secreted in the CSF of Pimas and Caucasians