1. Biology of Lipid Metabolism Laboratory

2. People Lab head Matthew Watt Research Assistant Maria Matzaris

3. Obesity is a serious medical conditions that has doubled in prevalence over the last 20 years and affects 1 in every 3 Australian adults. Our research is directed towards understanding the molecular and cellular regulation of fat metabolism, in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, and how defective fat metabolism lead to the development of insulin resistance (precursor to type 2 diabetes). Research focus

4. Exercise and Metabolic Phenotyping Cell culture, genetic perturbations and molecular biology

5. Current projects Our laboratory utilizes mammalian systems and genetic manipulation of cultured cells and mice models. We have a strong focus on phenotypic evaluation. The honours research projects for 2009 are: 1.Understanding how the fatty liver ‘talks’ to other cells. 2.Examining the role of proinflammatory cytokines in the development of a diabetes. 3.The adipocyte as an active participant in the development of metabolic disease. 4.Does increasing fat breakdown increase the capacity of muscle mitochondria to burn more fat?