Research to Help Lose Weight and Strengthen Bones

Research to Help Lose Weight and Strengthen Bones

Research to Help Lose Weight and Strengthen Bones

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

The fate of people suffering with obesity or osteoporosis could lie in the hands of researchers who are looking into the way fat and bone cells develop, with the assistance of the zebrafish.

Australia’s Deakin University PhD student Dan Fraher is focusing research on these two worldwide prevalent diseases and he believes that manipulating the growth of fat and bone cells could open up new treatments for these debilitating diseases.

He shares more details on his research.

Fraher: “Now these two disease may seem very different but actually fat cells and bone cells originate from the same stem cell population. In my project, I’m interested in causing a fate change of these stem cells to increase the number of bone cells as treatment for osteoporosis and decrease the number of fat cells as a treatment for obesity.”
Fraher’s research uses the zebrafish to test two specific genetic signals involved in the development of fat and bone cells.
Fraher: “Why use the zebrafish? Zebrafish is a good model organism because it has bone and fat, both of these tissues --bone and fat-- are simliar to the bone and fat we have as human. And it is very easy to observe their cellular structure, their genetics and their physiology.”
Although it is early in the research, he says the results look promising. Fraher continues working on understanding how these genetic signals can influence the production of fat and bone cells.
I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

Mr Fraher presented his research project as a finalist in the Deakin University Three Minute Thesis Competition. To watch his presentation, go to http://www.deakin.edu.au/news/2012/080812obesityosteoporosistreatment.php
 

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