"From Flies to Mice to Dogs: LCORL Regulation of Growth and Metabolism"

Speaker:

Joel Elmquist, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Professor & Vice Chair of Research
Director, Center for Hypothalamic Research
UT Southwestern Medical Center

About Joel Elmquist:

Originally from Iowa, Dr. Elmquist earned his Ph.D. in veterinary anatomy at Iowa State University. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, later accepting a faculty position there in Medicine and Neurology.

He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2006.

The Elmquist Lab has found that deletion of LCoRL (ligand-dependent corepressor-like) affects body weight and glucose metabolism. While previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in humans and livestock linked LCoRL to metabolic traits, the Elmquist Lab has provided functional evidence of its role.

Using genetically engineered LCoRL knockout mice, the Elmquist team found that the absence of LCoRL leads to leaner body composition, reduced food intake, and enhanced insulin sensitivity. These mice also showed lower levels of IGF-1, altered liver gene expression, and resistance to weight gain on a high-fat diet.

These findings align with GWAS data and underscore LCoRL’s potential as a therapeutic target for metabolic disorders. In this presentation, Dr. Elmquist will discuss his ongoing focus on the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underlying energy balance and metabolic disease.