Obesity is a risk factor for numerous chronic metabolic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Complex interactions between genetics and diet contribute to the risk and progression of these diseases. Scientists are teasing apart mechanisms of interaction with the goal of understanding how these diseases can be prevented and treated.
Potential Specialization Areas
- Cancer prevention and therapy
- Metabolism
- Nutrient gene interactions
- Nutrient regulation of the immune system
- Energy expenditure (exercise, prevention, calorie restriction)
Faculty Working In Nutrient Regulation, Obesity, and Metabolic Diseases
Orfeu Buxton
- Elizabeth Fenton Susman Professor of Biobehavioral Health
The causes of chronic sleep deficiency in the workplace, home, and society; the health consequences of chronic sleep. . .
Margherita Cantorna
- Director of the Center for Molecular Immunology and Infectious Disease
- Distinguished Professor of Molecular Immunology
Understanding the working of the immune system. Utilizing animal models of several human diseases including enteric. . .
Nikki Crowley
- Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute – University Park
- Huck Chair in Neural Engineering
Investigation of peptidergic transmission throughout the brain, using cell-specific and pathway-specific manipulations to. . .
Erika Ganda
- Emphasis Area Representative, Microbiome Sciences
- Associate Professor of Food Animal Microbiomes
Developing practical ways to leverage the microbiome to improve food safety and improve food production animals' production. . .
Kevin Harvatine
- Professor of Nutritional Physiology
- C. Lee Rumberger and Family Chair in Agricultural Sciences
Investigation of dietary factors that modify ruminal fatty acid biohydrogenation, regulation of synthesis of milk components,. . .
Laura Klein
- Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Biobehavioral effects of stress on drug abuse; sex differences in neuroendocrine and behavioral stress responses; nicotine. . .
Joshua Lambert
- Professor of Food Science
Dietary polyphenols in prevention of obesity and fatty liver disease; efficacy and mechanisms of action of food-derived. . .
Andrew Patterson
- Associate Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
- Professor of Molecular Toxicology
The Patterson lab is focused on understanding the host-metabolite-microbiome axis
Justin Pritchard
- Huck Early Career Entrepreneurial Professorship
- Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Using systems and synthetic biology approaches to understand and control drug resistance.
Greg Shearer
- Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Integrative and Biomedical Physiology
- Professor of Nutrition and Physiology
We seek to understand disease-related functional changes in the context of global changes in lipid mediators (bioactive. . .
