Zach Gerhart-Hines
Associate Professor, NNF Centre for Basic Metabolic Research, UCPH
“Leveraging peripheral and central neurokinin signalling for the development of novel therapeutics in cardiometabolism”
Abstract: Our team tries to understand how the brain and body coordinate metabolic homeostasis. We recently found that activation of the Neurokinin 2 receptor (NK2R) is capable of both peripherally increasing energy expenditure and centrally regulating food intake. Our group is now focused on understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of this regulation through pharmacological, genetic, and chemogenetic methods. We believe this signalling pathway holds the potential for safe means of boosting metabolic rate and eliciting non-aversive appetite control for the next generation of cardiometabolic therapies.