Join the Office of Research Administration and Dr. Richard Londraville for “Is this why we are fat? A key innovation in the genome of mammals”

Auburn Science and Engineering Center, Room D404

Thursday, November 5, 2015

12-1 pm

Guest Speaker

Dr. Richard Londraville

I’m a fish guy-I study how fish do what they do. I’m also a fat guy-I’m interested in what cells and organisms do with fat. Finally, I’m a temperature guy-I spend time thinking about how temperature affects cell function. Together, these things mean that I study the cell physiology of fish with different body temperatures, and different fat metabolisms. In the past I’ve worked on very cold fish (Antarctic fish) and fish that are cold seasonally (like striped bass). I’ve also worked on some fish that keep parts of their bodies warm (blue marlin). Where does fat come into the picture? Cold fish tend to accumulate fat. Why? How? That is some of the focus of our current research. We study proteins that may help the cell to burn fat, move it around, get rid of it or deposit it. Specifically, we are working on leptin, and enzymes that burn fat. Current directions include characterizing how leptin works in zebrafish and carp.

Currently I am working with 3 doctoral students in the new Integrated Bioscience PhD program. Donnie Copeland is working on how leptin affects carp’s physiology in their environment. He is particularly interested in response to stress and cold. Hope Ball is working with myself, Joel Duff, and Hans Thewissen at NEOUCOM. Her project is investigating the biology of leptin in Bowhead whales. Mark Dalman will join the lab this Fall, and he is going to be working on leptin physiology in zebrafish.

What’s on the Menu…

Human Obesity is a worldwide health crisis with no widely accepted pharmacological solution. One aspect of human obesity that makes it difficult to treat is leptin resistance. Leptin resistance occurs when our brains no longer respond adequately to the hormone signal that controls appetite and metabolism. A promising therapeutic target for leptin resistance is a protein called endospanin. Endospanin regulates how sensitive an organism is to leptin. Our research generates an endospanin-knockout zebrafish to test the hypothesis that this protein only regulates leptin resistance in mammals.

Come, bring a lunch, and learn more about Dr. Londraville’s exciting research!

Contact RschSrvsGA8@uakron.edu with any questions