Elizabeth Mietlicki-Baase
University at Buffalo, NY·Neuroscience
Obesity is common in the United States, and treatment options remain limited. One driver is overeating tasty, rewarding foods.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Physiology
Pharmacology
- Topics
amylin
obesity
food intake
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2026
What they work on
- Test whether activating amylin receptors in the ventral tegmental area suppresses rapid dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core in response to fat in the mouth, measured with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry.
- Compare the contributions of taste and mouth sensations versus after-swallowing feedback to activating amylin-receptor-expressing dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area.
- Reduce amylin receptor expression in ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons with a Cre-dependent adeno-associated virus to test how these neurons help amylin control energy balance.
- Determine how ventral tegmental area amylin receptors control tasty food intake and body weight in females, and how estradiol changes these effects and receptor expression.
More about the research
Amylin, a hormone that lowers food intake and body weight, is a promising lead for new obesity drugs. Amylin can act in the brain's reward system, but how it works there to reduce eating, and whether it works the same way in females and males, is not well understood.
Why it matters
Clarifying how amylin acts in the brain's reward circuits to cut intake of tasty, high-fat foods could point to new drug targets and strategies for treating obesity. Studying females and estradiol could help such treatments work across sexes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Heath Schmidt
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Neuroscience
Define how amylin receptors on specific cell types, dopamine and GABA neurons of the ventral tegmental area and D1- or D2-receptor medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens, control oxycodone self-administration and relapse-like seeking, using viral gene delivery in transgenic rats.
Jared Bagley
Binghamton University, NY·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test whether mouse strains genetically predisposed to extreme cocaine self-administration differ in baseline and acute cocaine-evoked dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens shell, measured with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry.
Stephan Lammel
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Neuroscience
Test whether neurotensin signaling in the pathway from the lateral nucleus accumbens to the VTA drives hedonic feeding in mice, using optogenetics, NTS receptor blockers and a new neurotensin sensor that measures release in vitro and in vivo.
The school
University at Buffalo: 32 labs on PI Pages, $542M a year on research, 316 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.