The O'Connell Lab

The overarching goal of my NIH-funded research program is to understand the neural control of appetite and how diet and body weight affect the excitability of the neurons in key CNS circuits responsible for food intake.

Principal Investigator

Kristen M.S. O'Connell, Ph.D.

Location

Bar Harbor, ME

Contact

207-288-6000

kristen.oconnell@jax.org

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Topics

At its root, obesity is caused by eating too much, but it is now apparent that obesity is associated with dysfunction in appetite circuits in the brain. Thus, any successful and lasting treatment must address these appetitive circuits to ultimately modify food intake and energy expenditure. To this end, the overarching goal of my NIH-funded research program is to understand the neural control of appetite and how diet and body weight affect the excitability of the neurons in key CNS circuits responsible for food intake. There are two major on-going projects in my lab that aim to tackle this question from different angles, one focused on AgRP neuronal excitability and the second on the role of astrocytes in energy balance and obesity.