Virginia Tech® home

Archived Seminar: Why Did I Eat That? Alterations in Brain and Behavior Contributing to Obesity

Insert your title here

Your Text Here
Carrie Ferrario Ph.D.

Carrie Ferrario, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Pharmacology 
University of Michigan Medical School
View Profile

In Person Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar: Why Did I Eat That? Alterations in Brain and Behavior Contributing to Obesity

March 4, 2022 

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Download Flyer
Loading player for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2izSYdW4A...

About this Seminar

While urges to eat are regulated by hunger, satiety, and energy demand, they are also strongly influenced by sights, sounds, and smells that are associated with food (food cues). Dr. Ferrario’s lab examines the neurobiological mechanisms of cue-triggered food craving, how these processes are influenced by consumption of sugary, fatty, “junk-food” diets, and susceptibility to obesity. Her lab uses preclinical models and a range of approaches including behavioral pharmacology, biochemistry, and slice electrophysiology in combination with optogenetics. In her talk, she will discuss how alterations in excitatory transmission within the brain's “reward” pathway influence food craving, and the relationship of these alterations to aberrant vs. normative reward-seeking behaviors. In her talk, she will discuss how enhanced responsivity to food cues contributes to obesity, how alterations in excitatory transmission within the brain's “reward” pathway influence food craving, interact with susceptibility to obesity.

Additional Details

This is a free event hosted by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and co-sponsored by the institute's Addiction Recovery Research Center and the Center for Health Behaviors Research. The Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series, which runs annually from September to May, has featured leading biomedical researchers from throughout the country since the program began in 2012. The lectures are also open to all members of the Virginia Tech community including graduate students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff, as well as the public.

You May Also Be Interested In...

  • Home Item
    The Bitter Truth: Alcohol Use and Its Effects on Chemosensory Function
    The Bitter Truth: Alcohol Use and Its Effects on Chemosensory Function , home

    Oct. 3, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Paule Valery Joseph, Ph.D., Lasker Clinical Research Scholar, NIH Distinguished Scholar; Acting Chief, Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism Unit, Co-Director of the National Smell and Taste Center, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Health Behaviors Research and Addiction Recovery Research Center

  • Home Item
    Organization and Control of Hippocampal Networks
    Organization and Control of Hippocampal Networks , home

    Oct. 17, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Ivan Soltesz, Ph.D., James R. Doty Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences, Stanford University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Neurobiology Research

  • Home Item
    Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
    Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture , home

    Oct. 30, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Jennifer Munson, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Cancer Research Center — Roanoke, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech College of Engineering | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Thinking the Right Thoughts
    Thinking the Right Thoughts , home

    Oct. 31, 2025, 11 a.m. | Nathaniel Daw, Ph.D., Professor, Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Princeton University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Human Neuroscience Research

  • Home Item
    Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
    Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture , home

    Nov. 6, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Teresa Lambe, Ph.D., OBE, Calleva Head of Vaccine Immunology, Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology, University of Oxford | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Understanding Vascular Morphogenesis and Morphology: Live Insights from Zebrafish
    Understanding Vascular Morphogenesis and Morphology: Live Insights from Zebrafish , home

    Nov. 21, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Arndt F. Siekmann, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania | Co-Sponsored by the Center for Vascular and Heart Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute