Karolina Skibicka

Huck Chair of Metabolic Physiology; Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences

Karolina Skibicka

Research Summary

Utilizing rodent models to discover novel neural substrates that control fundamental homeostatic and reward controls of food intake, and their failures in the case of obesity and infection-induced anorexia; How food and feeding behavior affect neural circuits controlling sociability and emotionality.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

Most Recent Publications

Sex-specific signatures of GLP-1 and amylin on resting state brain activity and functional connectivity in awake rats

Tanzil M. Arefin, Stina Börchers, Doris Olekanma, Samuel R. Cramer, Morgan R. Sotzen, Nanyin Zhang, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2025, Neuropharmacology

From the pancreas to the amygdala: New brain area critical for ingestive and motivated behavior control exerted by amylin

Suyeun Byun, Ivana Maric, Stina Börchers, Morgan R. Sotzen, Doris Olekanma, Matthew R. Hayes, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2025, iScience

GLP-1 and Its Analogs: Does Sex Matter?

Stina Börchers, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2025, Endocrinology

Elevated circulating adiponectin levels do not prevent anxiety-like behavior in a PCOS-like mouse model

Manisha Samad, Joakim Ek, Stina Börchers, Jean Philippe Krieger, Elisabet Stener-Victorin, Karolina P. Skibicka, Ingrid Wernstedt Asterholm, Anna Benrick, 2024, Scientific Reports

Lateral parabrachial nucleus astrocytes control food intake

Devesh Mishra, Jennifer E. Richard, Ivana Maric, Olesya T. Shevchouk, Stina Börchers, Kim Eerola, Jean Philippe Krieger, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2024, Frontiers in Endocrinology

Sex differences in the central and peripheral omega 3 oxylipin response to acute systemic inflammation

Karolina Skibicka, J Kelliher, I Maric, Christopher Engeland, Gregory Shearer, K Skibicka, 2024, American Journal of Physiology on p. R341-R351

An appetite for aggressive behavior? Female rats, too, derive reward from winning aggressive interactions

Stina Börchers, Jil Carl, Katharina Schormair, Jean Philippe Krieger, Mohammed Asker, Christian E. Edvardsson, Elisabeth Jerlhag, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2023, Translational Psychiatry

Peripherally restricted oxytocin is sufficient to reduce food intake and motivation, while CNS entry is required for locomotor and taste avoidance effects

Mohammed Asker, Jean Philippe Krieger, Amber Liles, Ian C. Tinsley, Tito Borner, Ivana Maric, Sarah Doebley, C. Daniel Furst, Stina Börchers, Francesco Longo, Yashaswini R. Bhat, Bart C. De Jonghe, Matthew R. Hayes, Robert P. Doyle, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2023, Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism on p. 856-877

Sex-divergent effects of hindbrain GLP-1-producing neuron activation in rats

Lorena Lopez-Ferreras, Mohammed Asker, Jean Philippe Krieger, Karolina Patrycja Skibicka, 2023, Frontiers in Neuroscience

From the stomach to locus coeruleus: new neural substrate for ghrelin’s effects on ingestive, motivated and anxiety-like behaviors

I Maric, L López-Ferreras, Y Bhat, M Asker, S Börchers, L Bellfy, S Byun, Janine Kwapis, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2023, Frontiers in Pharmacology on p. 1286805

Most-Cited Papers

GLP-1 and weight loss: Unraveling the diverse neural circuitry

Scott E. Kanoski, Matthew R. Hayes, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2016, American Journal of Physiology on p. R885-R895

Activation of the GLP-1 receptors in the nucleus of the solitary tract reduces food reward behavior and targets the mesolimbic system

Jennifer E. Richard, Rozita H. Anderberg, Andreas Göteson, Fiona M. Gribble, Frank Reimann, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2015, PLoS One

GLP-1 is both anxiogenic and antidepressant; divergent effects of acute and chronic GLP-1 on emotionality

Rozita H. Anderberg, Jennifer E. Richard, Caroline Hansson, Hans Nissbrandt, Filip Bergquist, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2016, Psychoneuroendocrinology on p. 54-66

Maternal testosterone exposure increases anxiety-like behavior and impacts the limbic system in the offspring

Min Hu, Jennifer Elise Richard, Manuel Maliqueo, Milana Kokosar, Romina Fornes, Anna Benrick, Thomas Jansson, Claes Ohlsson, Xiaoke Wu, Karolina Patrycja Skibicka, Elisabet Stener-Victorin, 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 14348-14353

Lateral hypothalamic GLP-1 receptors are critical for the control of food reinforcement, ingestive behavior and body weight

L. López-Ferreras, J. E. Richard, E. E. Noble, K. Eerola, R. H. Anderberg, K. Olandersson, L. Taing, S. E. Kanoski, M. R. Hayes, K. P. Skibicka, 2018, Molecular Psychiatry on p. 1157-1168

Sex and Species Differences in the Development of Diet-Induced Obesity and Metabolic Disturbances in Rodents

Ivana Maric, Jean Philippe Krieger, Pauline van der Velden, Stina Börchers, Mohammed Asker, Milica Vujicic, Ingrid Wernstedt Asterholm, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2022, Frontiers in Nutrition

The Stomach-Derived Hormone Ghrelin Increases Impulsive Behavior

Rozita H. Anderberg, Caroline Hansson, Maya Fenander, Jennifer E. Richard, Suzanne L. Dickson, Hans Nissbrandt, Filip Bergquist, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2016, Neuropsychopharmacology on p. 1199-1209

Glucagon-like peptide 1 and its analogs act in the dorsal raphe and modulate central serotonin to reduce appetite and body weight

Rozita H. Anderberg, Jennifer E. Richard, Kim Eerola, Lorena López-Ferreras, Elin Banke, Caroline Hansson, Hans Nissbrandt, Filip Berqquist, Fiona M. Gribble, Frank Reimann, Ingrid Wernstedt Asterholm, Christophe M. Lamy, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2017, Diabetes on p. 1062-1073

Sex and estrogens alter the action of glucagon-like peptide-1 on reward

Jennifer E. Richard, Rozita H. Anderberg, Lorena López-Ferreras, Kajsa Olandersson, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2016, Biology of Sex Differences

GLP-1 and estrogen conjugate acts in the supramammillary nucleus to reduce food-reward and body weight

Heike Vogel, Stefanie Wolf, Cristina Rabasa, Francisca Rodriguez-Pacheco, Carina S. Babaei, Franziska Stöber, Jürgen Goldschmidt, Richard D. DiMarchi, Brian Finan, Matthias H. Tschöp, Suzanne L. Dickson, Annette Schürmann, Karolina P. Skibicka, 2016, Neuropharmacology on p. 396-406