Karolline May receives research ADVANCE award
Dr. Karolline May, postdoctoral scholar (Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition) has been awarded a UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center Pilot and Feasibility Research ADVANCE Award, which targets early career scientists from underrepresented groups.
The title of her project is: “SCFA serve as a direct link between gut microbiota and adipocyte metabolism via FFAR2 signaling, thereby beneficially regulating whole-body homeostasis.”
Project description
The obesity epidemic represents an impediment to public health and increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and cancer. Manipulation of the gut microbiota has emerged as a promising approach to treat obesity and its co-morbidities, yet the metabolic impact on organ systems beyond the gut remains underexplored.
This proposal centers on unraveling the mechanisms whereby gut microbiota-derived metabolites, in particular the short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) acetate, impact host adipose tissue physiology to modulate lipid, glucose, and energy homeostasis.
Circulating SCFAs, mainly acetate, propionate, and butyrate, comprise the major output of the bacterial fermentation of non-digestible fibers. The major SCFA receptor, free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFAR2), is highly expressed in adipocytes, suggesting a potentially critical but underexplored signaling link between the gut and adipose tissue.
Work from the May laboratory has recently found that mice deficient in FFAR2 only from adipocytes exhibit accelerated high-fat high sucrose (HFHS)-mediated weight gain, and that acetate supplementation as well as a high-fiber diet both improve glucose metabolism (not shown), thus providing a functional “brake” on obesity.
Based on these findings, with support of the NORC Energy Balance Core, this grant proposes to determine whether SCFAs serve as a direct link between gut microbiota and adipocyte metabolism via FFAR2 signaling, thereby beneficially regulating whole-body homeostasis.
Dr. May completed her PhD at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She subsequently accepted a postdoctoral fellowship position at the University of Washington, Seattle WA in the laboratory of Dr. Laura den Hartigh within the Department of Medicine and Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition. Dr. May’s research examines the relationship between gut microbiota, adipose tissue metabolism and metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.