obesity Archives

Alyssa Hasty, PhD, left, Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, and Kamran Idrees, MD, MSCI, are part of a multidisciplinary team that received a 2023 Endeavor Award from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research to study the connection between obesity and cancer. Team members not pictured include Kathryn Wellen, PhD, Liza Makowski, PhD, and Kathryn Beckermann, MD, PhD.

Vanderbilt-led team receives 2023 Endeavor Award from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research

Oct. 24, 2023—A multidisciplinary team of investigators has received a 2023 Endeavor Award from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research to support four closely linked projects exploring the fundamental mechanisms that drive the obesity-cancer connection,

From left, Sheila Collins, PhD, Ryan Ceddia, PhD, and Heidi Hamm, PhD, and their colleagues have identified a potential new approach to reducing the global impact of obesity and diabetes. (photo by Erin O. Smith)

Releasing a brake that drives obesity and diabetes

Sep. 6, 2023—Vanderbilt researchers have uncovered a potential new way to help curb the rapidly rising worldwide prevalence of metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes.

Heather Pua, MD, PhD, and Neil Sprenkle, PhD, have discovered a protective role for microRNAs in immune cell macrophages during obesity, potentially opening new therapeutic avenues.

MicroRNAs in immune cells help protect against metabolic defects in obesity: study

Sep. 5, 2023—Vanderbilt researchers have demonstrated that a cluster of microRNAs — small pieces of RNA that regulate gene expression — work in a type of immune cells called macrophages to help protect against metabolic defects in obesity.

Diabetes drug may improve asthma

Feb. 21, 2023—New biomarker finding strengthens the case for using GLP-1R agonists to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes who also suffer from asthma.

Research network yields significant findings related to obesity

Feb. 16, 2023— by Jill Clendening In 2017, Vanderbilt University Medical Center was selected to be one of four U.S. medical centers in a Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) on Obesity funded by a four-year, $15 million award from the American Heart Association to study obesity and train future obesity-focused investigators. Now, the findings of the research...

Metabolic signatures of Type 2 diabetes risk

Oct. 24, 2022—Vanderbilt epidemiologists found 32 blood metabolites associated with obesity and showed that adding these to traditional disease prediction models improves accuracy of determining Type 2 diabetes risk.

Stress, obesity and food intake

Oct. 6, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers are elucidating the neuronal pathways that contribute to food consumption in response to stress — “comfort feeding” — and how they differ in males versus females and in the context of obesity.

Immune cells drive beta cell loss in Type 2 diabetes

Sep. 8, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers have discovered details of pancreatic beta cell loss — and potential therapeutic targets — during conditions of overnutrition, as occurs in obesity.

Inflammatory driver of obesity

Aug. 25, 2022—Blocking the EGF receptor signaling pathway in immune system macrophages represents a new target for improving insulin resistance in people with obesity.

From left, Raymond C. Harris, MD, Shirong Cao, MD, PhD, Ming-Zhi Zhang, MD, MSc, and colleagues are studying the role of inflammation in obesity.

Study sheds light on the dark side of obesity

May. 12, 2022—Vanderbilt research that promotes the anti-inflammatory pathway in macrophages could also reduce some of the bad side effects of obesity.

Reducing obesity-related inflammation

Mar. 24, 2022—A treatment that increases levels of lipid signaling molecules reduced adipose tissue inflammation in obese adults, suggesting this pathway may be a valuable target for modulating fat and systemic inflammation.

New insights into hypothalamic obesity

Feb. 10, 2022—A common Type 2 diabetes treatment being tested for hypothalamic obesity had unexpected results on weight loss and total energy expenditure, Vanderbilt researchers report.