adipose tissue

Meet some of the people featured in the November 2015 issue of The Scientist.

Bruce Spiegelman has spent his career at the forefront of adipocyte differentiation and metabolism.

Obese people are at higher risk for developing cancer, have worse prognoses once diagnosed, and are often resistant to chemotherapy regimens. The question is, Why?

Factors that likely contribute to obesity include disruptions to intercellular signaling, increased inflammation, and changes to the gut microbiome.
 

Scientists know how to turn on these fat-combusting cells. Can these energy burners be used to combat obesity?

Researchers pinpoint the neurons within white fat tissue that mediate brain-bound leptin signaling and eventual fat breakdown.

Following extreme trauma, patients’ adipose samples have revealed—for the first time in humans—that white fat can be converted into energy-burning brown fat.

The origins of adipocytes have been hotly debated, but a human study supports the idea that the bone marrow takes part. 

Insulin and leptin act on specialized neurons in the mouse hypothalamus to promote conversion of white to beige fat.

Nobel Prizes awarded; transgenerational effects of mitochondrial mutations; fat-targeted gene knockdown; Ebola updates in Spain and U.S.

A small peptide helps a silencing construct home in on the adipocytes of obese mice.

Researchers have identified three fat cell-specific surface markers that distinguish white from brown and beige adipocytes.

Conversion of white fat to brown is associated with muscle atrophy and weight loss in cancer patients.