BLS Seminar Series- Beatrice Filippi, Leeds University

Seminar Abstract: Obesity and type 2 diabetes are among the most pressing health challenges of our time, and both are marked by insulin resistance. While insulin resistance has been studied mainly in peripheral tissues, it is now clear that the brain is also insulin resistant in obesity and diabetes. Insulin acts in the brain to regulate glucose metabolism and feeding, so understanding how the brain senses insulin, and why this fails, could open up new ways to prevent and treat metabolic disease. In this seminar I will give an overview of our work on insulin sensing in the dorsal vagal complex, a brainstem region that integrates hormonal and nutrient signals to control whole-body metabolism. I will describe how changes in mitochondrial dynamics contribute to insulin resistance in this region. I will then show how astrocytes, together with the endozepines they release, take part in insulin sensing and in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Finally, I will discuss where our research is heading, including the cellular and molecular mechanisms that could restore insulin sensitivity in the brain and the potential for therapeutic intervention.

Biosketch: Dr Beatrice Maria Filippi is an Associate Professor and MRC Career Development Fellow at the University of Leeds. Dr Filippi obtained her PhD at the Consorzio Mario Negri Sud in Italy before undertaking postdoctoral research at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit in Dundee, working with Professor Dario Alessi on molecular signalling pathways and protein kinases. She subsequently joined Professor Tony Lam's laboratory in Toronto, where she investigated the neural regulation of whole-body metabolism. In 2016, she established her independent research group at the University of Leeds. Her laboratory combines in vivo physiological approaches with molecular and biochemical techniques to investigate insulin sensing in the dorsal vagal complex, neuronal signalling and the mechanisms underlying central insulin resistance. Her work aims to improve our understanding of metabolic dysfunction and identify potential therapeutic approaches for obesity and type 2 diabetes. In 2019, she was awarded a £1.4 million MRC Career Development Fellowship to support her research.