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Orexin modulates brown adipose tissue thermogenesis

• Christopher J. Madden

  Dr. Christopher J. Madden is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Madden received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh in 2002. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Shaun F. Morrison in the Neurological Sciences Institute at Oregon Health and Science University from 2002 to 2008 and then a Staff Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center until obtaining his current position in 2010. Dr. Madden’s research is focused on the functional organization of the central neural circuits regulating metabolism of adipose tissue, glucose homeostasis, cardiovascular function, and thermogenesis, and how alterations in this regulation contribute to disease states and pathological conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Current techniques in use in Dr. Madden’s lab include direct simultaneous recordings of peripheral nerve activities and central nervous system single cell discharge, as well as, pharmacological, functional neuroanatomical, molecular biological, and optogenetic techniques to investigate the central neural circuits that regulate cardiovascular function, blood glucose homeostasis, body temperature, and energy metabolism.

  , Domenico Tupone

  Dr. Domenico Tupone obtained his PhD in Neurophysiology in 2010 from Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. He was honored by the Italian Sleep Research Society (SIRS) with the annual “Igino Fagioli” award for the best doctoral thesis in basic sleep research, for his neurophysiological studies on the relationship between REM sleep and central regulation of metabolism. Dr. Tupone is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Shaun F. Morrison, in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Oregon Health and Science University, where he studies the central neural regulation of body temperature. Dr. Tupone’s principal research interest is the pharmacological manipulation of the central autonomic circuits controlling body temperature for the development of clinical approaches to controlled hypothermia. His studies implement in vivo, electrophysiological and anatomical approaches in anesthetized, awake head-restrained and freebehaving rats.

  and Shaun F. Morrison

  Dr. Shaun F. Morrison is a Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Morrison received his PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Vermont. He was an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neurobiology at Cornell University Medical College and subsequently became a Professor in the Department of Physiology at Northwestern University Medical School. Dr. Morrison became a Senior Scientist in the Neurological Sciences Institute at Oregon Health and Science University in 2001, and to his current position in 2010. His research integrates neurophysiological examination of the central thermoregulatory pathways, from cutaneous thermal afferents to motor outfl ows controlling thermoregulatory effectors, with physiological analyses of the interrelationship among thermoregulatory, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic control systems required to maintain the balance of homeostasis.