Irfan Lodhi, associate professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, received a $1.95 million grant from the National Institute of Health for research titled “Mitochondrial dynamics and the control of adipose tissue thermogenesis.”
Targeting brown fat function to promote thermogenesis and increase energy expenditure is a promising strategy to treat obesity and the associated type-2 diabetes. Our studies suggest that mitochondrial morphology is an important regulator of the thermogenic capacity of brown adipocytes. The overall goal of this project is to study inter-organelle communications regulating mitochondrial dynamics and energy homeostasis and to identify new potential targets for therapeutic activation of thermogenic fat based on the control of mitochondrial dynamics.
Irfan Lodhi, PhD