News

Mapping the Human Hypothalamus: A Breakthrough in Understanding Metabolic Health

5 February 2025

Researchers at the IMS-MRL and MRC MDU in collaboration with a team at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne, have created the most detailed map to date of the human hypothalamus, a crucial brain region that regulates body weight, appetite, sleep, and stress. Published in Nature , this comprehensive...

Brown adipose tissue is associated with reduced weight loss and risk of cancer cachexia

3 February 2025

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a special type of body fat that burns calories to generate heat and it has been studied for its potential to fight metabolic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Recent research suggests it may also play a role in conditions involving extreme weight and muscle loss (e.g. cancer cachexia...

Global Commission advocates changes to definition of obesity

16 January 2025

A global Commission, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology and endorsed by more than 75 medical organisations around the world, presents a new approach to diagnose obesity, based on measures of excess body fat in addition to body mass index (BMI), and objective signs and symptoms of ill health. The...

Orthopedia regulates melanocortin 4 receptor transcription and energy homeostasis

16 January 2025

Genetic studies have shown that the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) plays a critical role in regulating food intake and body weight. However, surprisingly, little is known about how MC4R expression is regulated in the brain. In a study published in Science Translational Medicine , the Farooqi team collaborated with Chen Lui...

Setmelanotide now licensed to treat children with genetic obesity from age 2

11 December 2024

The Farooqi team recently worked with colleagues across the world to complete a 12 month Phase 3 clinical trial of the Melanocortin 4 receptor agonist, Setmelanotide, in very young children (aged 2-5 years) with severe obesity due to genetic conditions which disrupt the function of the hypothalamic melanocortin pathway...

Stephen O'Rahilly receives an award at international lipodystrophy symposium

19 November 2024

Congratulations to Professor Stephen O’Rahilly who was presented with the Celia Carrión Pérez de Tudela Award in Lipodystrophy Research while at the AELIP 12th International Lipodystrophy Symposium in Santiago de Compostela, Spain earlier this month.

Julia Ware awarded the 2024 Milo Keynes Prize for PhD Thesis

11 November 2024

Congratulations to Dr Julia Ware (Hovorka group) who has been awarded the Milo Keynes Prize for the academic year 2024, on submission of her PhD thesis - The impact of closed-loop insulin delivery on glucose control in children and young people with type 1 diabetes mellitus: Longer-term benefits across the paediatric age-...

Apply now to study at the IMS-MRL

5 November 2024

The Institute of Metabolic Science offers a world class environment for research in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Training graduate students for a scientific career is a priority at the IMS-MRL. We have a mixture of both basic science students and clinical trainees and aim to provide everyone with a...

photo of a person injecting their abdomen

Are weight loss jabs the solution to the obesity crisis?

30 October 2024

Semaglutide-based weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic - and others like them - are being hailed as ‘revolutionary’, with the potential to improve the lives of billions. The UK government has suggested they could boost the economy by helping obese people get back to work. But current estimates suggest almost two thirds of...

Molecular mechanisms underlying glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide secretion in human duodenal organoids

24 October 2024

Research from the Gribble-Reimann group has generated a new human organoid K cell model which enables transcriptomic and functional characterisation of nutrient-sensing pathways involved in human GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide - an incretin hormone secreted by enteroendocrine K cells in the proximal...