Obesity and the Digestive System
Senad Divanovic, PhD
Instructor
Department of Pediatrics; Division of Cellular and Molecular Immunology
Description of Research
Dr. Divanovic’s research program focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of innate immune signaling and inflammation in mouse models of obesity, obesity-associated non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and infectious diseases. Related to this grant, his studies range from reductive analysis of TLR ligand signaling and challenge to mouse models of obesity and infection. Further, he is using experimental models of obesity to test the hypothesis that obesity-driven upregulation of IL-17 production is central to the pathogenesis of NAFLD.
Collaborations
Dr. Divanovic has used the Integrative Morphology Cores in collaboration with Drs. Kohli, and Hoebe in animal-based experiments to interrogate the pathogenic mechanisms of NAFLD. Further, Dr. Divanovic is using liver tissue samples from obese adolescents, provided by the Obesity Tissue Repository at Cincinnati Children's, in collaboration with Dr. Xanthakos for validation and correlation of specific hypotheses to human disease. Anticipated Core Use: Gene and Protein Expression, Bioinformatics, and Integrative Morphology Cores.
