The ASPIRE Path in Molecular Medicine

In my postdoctoral research, I am focusing on investigating how GLP-1R agonists affect ingestive behaviors and the underlying mechanisms that drive these changes. These behaviors encompass the circadian patterns of food intake, meal characteristics such as size, frequency, interval between two meals, and nutrient preferences. Similar to surgical interventions, current pharmacological interventions for weight loss have two distinct phases: the weight loss phase and the weight maintenance phase. Investigating these behaviors during these phases is crucial for understanding the heterogenous weight loss responses observed in the patients with obesity undergoing GLP-1R agonists treatment. In our lab, we plan to use diet-induced animal models to explore these ingestive behaviors upon administration of GLP1R agonists. Uncovering mechanisms involved in ingestive behaviors may help us to refine GLP1R agonist-based treatment strategies and identify potential targets to enhance the efficacy of GLP-1R agonists.