Research Groups > Genes and Metabolism Metabolic and Molecular Imaging

Our group has established a multidisciplinary programme that integrates biochemical, molecular biology and MRI/MRS techniques for translational science that goes from molecular events to clinically relevant end-points. We have identified genetic and environmental factors that modulate adipose tissue distribution and function and its impact on insulin sensitivity. We have also demonstrated the importance of early-life events and ethnicity on later-life body adiposity. Furthermore, using comprehensive pre-clinical and clinical phenotypic studies, coupled to cellular and molecular biology, we have shown the role of hypothalamic and rewards centres play in modulating food intake and hence body adiposity.

Within this framework we are now aim to explore:

• The effects of regional fat distribution (visceral, subcutaneous, liver and muscle) on metabolic risk and biomarkers in obesity and diabetes, and their response to therapy.
• The brain pathways by which appetite is altered in obesity, by gut hormones and anti-obesity therapies using pre-clinical manganese-enhanced MRI and clinical BOLD fMRI with a particular focus on hypothalamic, brainstem and reward systems.
• The influence(s) of specific environmental factors such as diet and exercise, and candidate genes on these physiological processes, particularly those associated with appetite, adipose tissue metabolism and function.

Differential phenotyping of volunteers by MRI
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fMRI brain maps showing greater activation of reward systems when viewing pictures of high-calorie foods than household object (fasted vs fed state)
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Novel in vivo thearanostic imaging systems for selective targeting of molecular biomarkers and gene delivery
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