Expertise
Obesity, Feeding, Dopamine in Feeding and Obesity, Food Addiction
Bio
Aaron Roseberry's laboratory researches the neural regulation of feeding and body weight, including the development of obesity. His team focuses primarily on the mesolimbic dopamine system, which is the brain’s “reward” circuitry. The rise in obesity levels has been paralleled by a significant increase in the intake of processed foods high in fat and sugar, suggesting that pathways regulating the intake of these foods may be sites that could be targeted for therapies to help prevent or reverse obesity. Thus, Roseberry is interested in how pleasurable and appetizing foods (such as those high in fat and sugar) activate the “reward” pathways in the brain, and how these responses change with obesity.