Sex differences in obesity, eating behaviors, and diet patterns: Insights from the brain-gut microbiome system
Speaker: Dr. Arpana Church, PhD Associate Professor Co-Director: Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center at UCLA Director: Neuroimaging Core G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience Ingestive Behavior and Obesity Program UCLA Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA
An accomplished investigator in medical research focusing on the brain, gut, and microbiome, Dr. Church has a PhD degree in psychology after completing an APA accredited clinical internship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical Center. Her current research focuses on the interactions between environmental and biological factors in shaping brain-gut microbiome signatures associated with stress-based diseases such as obesity. Broadly defined, this ground-breaking research aims to integrate two systems (the brain and the gut) in order to better understand the underlying mechanisms associated with obesity and altered consumption behaviors. This focus on obesity is key to a deeper understanding of the risk factors for many chronic diseases, and ones that disproportionately affect ethnic minorities and women. Backed by the National Instituted for Health (NIH), Dr. Church’s goal is to develop a comprehensive model that provides a powerful biomarker that will increase diagnostics around obesity in an effort to improve overall health outcomes.
Building on the success of her lab in the area of adversity and obesity, Dr. Church recently received two major grants from NIMHD and NIA (NIH) on investigating the brain-gut microbiome interactions associated with obesity. She has also received several industry funded grants as the Principal Investigator in addition to publishing over one hundred peer-reviewed articles, which have been featured in mainstream media outlets such as the Today Show, NBC, WSJ, Science, and WebMD. Additionally, she is featured in a Netflix documentary “Hack your Health: Secrets of the Gut” Released on April 26th 2024. These various efforts have allowed her to focus on the following main themes of research:
1. The Investigation of how novel pathways related to the brain-gut-microbiome (BGM) system may explain modulation of signals from the gut-microbiome on the brain via systemic immune activation.
2. Explanation of how risk factors associated with socio-cultural and environmental stressors “get under the skin” and are embedded in biology.
3. Identification of subgroup differences (e.g., race and sex) related to obesity.
4. Determination of changes associated with various interventions (e.g., brain-targeted such as cognitive behavioral therapy, or gut-based such as specific diets) directed at altered eating behaviors and obesity.
Talk summary: The goal of the presentation is to show evidence for how environmental stressors “get under the skin” and are embedded in biology (specifically the brain-gut microbiome system) and are associated with increased risk for the development of adverse health outcomes such as obesity and altered eating behaviors. Obesity is a risk factor for many chronic diseases, and disproportionately affects ethnic minorities and women. These alarming projections have led to the National Institute of Health and Healthy People priority initiatives directed at reducing these disparities. By focusing on adverse environmental factors, helps bring to the forefront those individuals (such as women) who are at increased risk to develop obesity as a result of adversity.
Agenda:
9-9:45 am PDT: Speaker presentation
9:45-10:00 am PDT: Question and answer period
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