oa Programming and reprogramming: new approaches for understanding disease

Our research is focused on understanding the contribution of environmental and genetic factors in the development of obesity and obesity related diseases. We seek to gain a better understanding of these diseases by capturing the disease genotype through the creation of induced pluripotent patient-specific stem cells. These cells can then be used to interrogate the disease phenotype in differentiated adult cells types associated with or affected by disease. By comparing cells from healthy donors and obese donors we hope to discover the cellular origins of obesity and use this information to aid in the battle against this and related metabolic diseases. Our progress towards this goal will be the topic of my presentation.