Enrique Olguín-Martínez, Ph.D.

Research

In the Henao-Mejia lab, I will explore how diet-induced inflammation promotes childhood obesity. In children, high levels of glucocorticoid stress hormones are associated with obesity. However, little is known about how these hormones—which are involved in metabolism and in the development of the immune system—alter weight regulation in early life. In preliminary studies, the laboratory of Dr. Jorge Henao-Mejia determined that in mice pups fed a high-fat diet, the fat-storing adipose tissue is infiltrated by immune cells that are unusually responsive to glucocorticoids. Now, using advanced techniques in cell and molecular immunology, gene editing and bioinformatics, I will determine how diet drives the development and inflammation-inducing activity of these stress-sensitive immune cells during early obesity. In addition, I will examine whether these cells persist into adulthood and whether dietary intervention or elimination of the cells’ glucocorticoid receptors at any stage of the process circumvents obesity in adulthood. My findings could shed light on how stress affects nutrition and provide a novel therapeutic approach to preventing obesity and the conditions with which it is linked, from heart disease and diabetes to cancer.