The University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories and its embedded MRC Metabolic Disease Unit investigate the mechanisms through which metabolic health is maintained and how this is disturbed in disease. We seek to use that knowledge to aid better treatment and prevention of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and related endocrine and metabolic diseases.
Research at the MRL
MRL groups encompass skills in genetics, cell biology, cell signalling, neuroendocrinology, bioenergetics, human and animal physiology, experimental medicine and clinical trials.
The MRL is the base for the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit (MDU), which was awarded in 2013 as part of a strategic funding partnership between the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.
The MDU supports four individual programmes of research that aim to improve understanding of the mechanisms responsible for obesity and related metabolic diseases. Together with a Welcome Strategic Award, the MDU also supports the core scientific facilities that underpin all basic and experimental science at the MRL.
Research Insights
Building upon genetic clues to further understand how the brain controls body weight
In research published in PNAS, a team of researchers has shown that loss of the gene called ‘TMEM18’ causes weight…
This might help explain how the body adapts to calorie restriction, making it harder to lose weight when we diet.…
