The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Jeffrey M. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Marilyn M. Simpson Professor and head, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, The Rockefeller University; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

Leptin is an adipose tissue hormone that maintains homeostatic control of adipose tissue mass. This endocrine system thus serves a critical evolutionary function by protecting individuals from the risks associated with being too thin (starvation) or too obese (predation). Mutations in leptin or its receptor cause massive obesity in mice and humans, and leptin can effectively treat obesity in leptin-deficient patients. Most obese patients have high endogenous levels of leptin, indicating that they are leptin resistant with a variable response to exogenous leptin. The identification of leptin has thus provided a framework for studying the pathogenesis of obesity in the general population. Leptin also links changes in nutrition to adaptive responses in other physiologic systems with effects on insulin sensitivity, fertility, immune function, and neuroendocrine function (among others). Leptin is an approved treatment for generalized lipodystrophy, a condition associated with severe diabetes, and has also shown promise for the treatment of other types of diabetes and for hypothalamic amenorrhea, an infertility syndrome in females.

 

The identification of leptin has also advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms that control feeding. Current research focuses on specific neural populations in the hypothalamus and other brain regions. The function of these neural subtypes is being evaluated by modulating their activity using optogenetics as well as by using a method that enables the non-invasive control of neural activity by a magnetic field.

 

Dr. Friedman received his M.D. from Albany Medical College of Union University and came to Rockefeller as a postgraduate fellow and associate physician in 1980. He received his Ph.D. in 1986 and joined the faculty. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including the 2005 Canada Gairdner Foundation International Award, the 2005 Passano Award, the 2009 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, the 2010 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, and the 2016 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine. Dr. Friedman is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Justin Sloboda

Phone

(212) 327-7785

Sponsor

Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=4245