Fat preference and adolescent obesity: Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms

 

Date:        Monday, 14th October, 2013
Time:      15.30 - 16.30
Venue:     Room OS6 (Seminar Room), 2nd Floor, Oakfield House

Dr. Pausova obtained her MD degree from Purkyně University (Czech Republic) in 1986. She then received research training in Genetics at McGill University and the University of Montreal in Montreal, Canada (1990-1998). Currently, Dr. Pausova is Senior Scientist in the Hospital for Sick Children and Associate Professor in the Departments of Physiology and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her research focuses on causes and health consequences of adolescent obesity. She co-directs the Saguenay Youth Study aimed at investigating cardiometabolic and brain health, and its genetic modifiers, in 1,000 Canadian adolescents and their parents (http://www.saguenay-youth-study.org). She has published 84 peer reviewed papers and 3 book chapters. She received the Award for Excellence in Research from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, is an elected Fellow of the American Heart Association, and serves as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Epigenomics and Epigenetics, and as a member of the Advisory Assessment Centre Committee of the Ontario Health Study.

Main research projects

• Obesity and cardio-metabolic disease in adolescence
• Eating behavior, addiction and the adolescent brain
• Induction of brown fat as a protection against diet-induced obesity Research
            Methodology
• Cardiovascular Physiology
• Nutrition and Metabolism
• Epidemiology
• Population Genetics and Epigenetics
• Experimental Medicine and Genetics

Selected Recent Publications

•  Haghighi A, Schwartz DH, Abrahamowicz M, Leonard GT, Perron M, Richer L,
   Veillette S, Gaudet D, Paus T, Pausova Z. Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette
   smoking, amygdala volume and fat preference in adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry.
   70:98-105, 2013.
• Haghighi A, Melka MG, Bernard M, Abrahamowicz M, Leonard GT, Richer L,
  Perron M, Veillette S, Xu CJ, Greenwood CMT, Dias A, El-Sohemy A, Gaudet D, Paus T, and Pausova Z.
  Opioid receptor mu 1 gene, fat intake and obesity in adolescence. Molecular Psychiatry, 2013; Jan 22.
  [Epub ahead of print].
• Melka MG, Gillis J, Bernard M, Abrahamowicz M, Chakravarty MM, Leonard GT,
  Perron M, Richer L, Veillette S, Banaschewski T, Barker GJ, Büchel C, Conrod P,
  Flor H, Heinz A, Garavan H, Brühl R, Mann K, Artiges E, Lourdusamy A, Lathrop M,
  Loth E, Schwartz Y, Frouin V, Rietschel M, Smolka MN, Ströhle A, Gallinat J,
  Struve M, Schumann G, the IMAGEN consortium, Pavlidis P, Gaudet D, Paus T,
  Pausova Z. FTO, obesity and the adolescent brain. Human Molecular Genetics.
  1:1050-8, 2013
• Pausova Z, Mahboubi A, Abrahamowicz M, Leonard GT, Perron M, Richer L,
  Veillette S, Gaudet D, Paus T. Sex differences in the contributions of visceral and
  total body fat to blood pressure in adolescence. Hypertension 59:572-9, 2012
• Melka M, Bernard M, Mahboubi A, Abrahamowicz M, Paterson A, Syme C,
  Lourdusamy A, Schumann G, Leonard GT, Perron M, Richer L, Veillette S, Gaudet
  D, Paus T, Pausova Z. Genome-wide scan for genes of adolescent obesity and
  their relationship with blood pressure. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
  Metabolism, 97(1):E145-150, 2012