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Challenger Foundation Career Development Award advancing trailblazing research in women’s heart health
Innovative Multidisciplinary Research Pilot Award FY 25 Recipients
2024 Frankel IHBH Innovative Multidisciplinary Research Pilot Award Recipients
Brain-Body Crosstalk in Health and Disease: Multidisciplinary Pilot Awards and Challenge Symposium
American Heart Association SFRN Spring Meeting hosted at the University of Michigan
Featured Publications
Sensory-neuron-derived CGRPα controls white adipocyte differentiation and tissue plasticity | Cell Reports | Dr. Ruas
Our bodies rely on a constant conversation between the brain and fat tissue to regulate energy balance. Part of this dialogue happens through nerves that run into adipose tissue: Sensory nerves send information to the brain and sympathetic nerves tell fat cells when to burn energy or release stored lipids. However, when activated, sensory nerves also release signaling molecules locally in the fat tissue. In this study, we discovered that one of these sensory-nerve molecules, CGRPα, plays a surprising role in shaping how white fat cells (adipocytes) develop. CGRPα prevents white preadipocytes from maturing, without affecting brown fat cells, which are specialized in heat production.
In mice exposed to cold, when fat normally forms many small cells to boost thermogenic capacity, CGRPα instead pushes the tissue toward larger fat cells. Even more striking, people taking anti-CGRPα migraine medications show weight loss and improved blood sugar, while matched individuals not on these drugs tend to gain weight during the examined period.
Together, these findings reveal a previously unknown communication pathway in which sensory nerves influence how white fat grows and functions—offering new insights into how the nervous system shapes metabolism and potentially pointing toward new strategies for treating obesity and metabolic disease.
Cardiac adaptation to endurance exercise training requires suppression of GDF15 via PGC-1α. | Nature Cardiovascular Research | Dr. Rosenzweig
Listen to the audio overview here
Exercise-Induced Cardiac Lymphatic Remodeling Mitigates Inflammation in the Aging Heart | Aging Cell | Dr. Rosenzweig
With the featured article in Aging Cell Dr. Rosenzweig and his collaborators examine the impact of age on the structure and function of cardiac lymphatics – the blood vessels that drain interstitial fluid from the heart – and demonstrate that exercise mitigates many of the effects of aging in these vessels.
