Adipose Tissue and Adipokines in Health and Disease

Dr. Giamila Fantuzzi is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. From 2000 to 2004 she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Fantuzzi is a graduate of the University of Milano, Italy, where she obtained a PhD in Experimental Endocrinology. She completed her post-doctoral fellowships in the laboratory of Neuroimmunology at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milano, Italy and in the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the New England Medical Center of Tufts University in Boston, MA. Dr. Fantuzzi has published extensively on the role of cytokines, adipokines and adipose tissue in the regulation of inflammation. Her current research focuses on the role of adipose tissue in regulating inflammation in the pancreas and the gastrointestinal tract. Her research is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health and she received past funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the Broad Medical Research Program and the National Pancreas Foundation. Dr. Fantuzzi is an active member of several scientific societies and serves as an appointed member of the Tumor Microenvironment Study Section of the US Center for Scientific Review. Dr. Carol Braunschweig is a Professor and Associate Head in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Braunschweig received her BS and MS in Nutrition at Michigan State University and her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Prior to her work in academia she was a nutrition support specialist in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan. Dr Braunschweig’s current research focuses on the role of nutritional intake and body composition on disease risks and outcomes in diverse populationsincluding minority, disabled, children and hospitalized patients.  Her research is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health and she received past funding from the American Cancer Society, Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services.  She is an active member of several scientific societies and is also the Director of Clinical Nutrition, UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

Adipose Tissue in Evolution.- Adipose Stem Cells and Adipogenesis.- Metabolism of White Adipose Tissue.- Bad Fat or Just More Fat? Murine Models of Metabolically-Healthy Obesity.- The Aging Adipose Organ: Lipid Redistribution, Inflammation, and Cellular Senescence.- Adipokines: Leptin and Adiponectin in the Regulation of Inflammatory and Immune Responses.- Adipose Tissue Inflammation.- Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Adipose Tissue Function.- Autophagy in White Adipose Tissue.- Obesity and Micronutrient Deficiencies.- Epidemiology of Obesity in Children.- Genetics of Obesity.- Epigenetics of Obesity.- Consequences of Rapid Weight Loss.- Human Lipodystrophy: An Update on Molecular Genetics and Possible Mechanisms of Fat Loss.- Adipose Tissue and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.- Adipokines in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.- Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease.- Respiratory Diseases in Obesity.- Adiposity & Kidney Disease.- Obesity and Joint Disease.- Obesity and Colon and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer.