Anutosh Chakraborty, Ph.D. » Investigators

Cardiovascular Research Interests:

Primary area of research:

• Obesity and its impact on cardiovascular disease and stroke

Related areas of research:

• Impact of obesity on neurodegeneration

Summary of cardiovascular research:

More than one-third of the U.S. population is obese. The prevalence of obesity-related diseases, such as type-
2 diabetes and heart disease, emphasizes the need for concerted efforts to prevent and treat obesity. While a
decrease in ≥5% of the body weight can significantly reduce cardiovascular risk in humans, lifestyle intervention as the primary step in long-term weight management is not sufficient. Thus, anti-obesity drugs are needed.

Due to the partial effects of the current anti-obesity drugs that inhibit food intake or absorption, recent focus has shifted towards enhancing energy expenditure in metabolic tissues. Adipose tissue is a major regulator of energy metabolism. Because of the complexity of adipose tissue, a complete understanding of the mechanism and regulation of its metabolism is still lacking.

Since discovery of all the major components of adipose tissue metabolism will certainly help to design therapeutic strategies, our laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanism and regulation of adipose tissue
metabolism in normal and obese conditions using mouse models. Utilizing the IP6K1 knockout (K1-KO) mice,
we previously discovered that these mice are resistant to weight gain and insulin resistance, despite their
unaltered food intake. We aim to determine the mechanisms by which IP6K1 promotes lipid accumulation in adipose tissue using whole body and adipose tissue specific IP6K1 mouse models. We also study how IP6K1 regulates energy metabolism, which impacts not only adipose tissue lipid metabolism, but also lipid metabolism throughout the body.