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
    Machine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier
    Machine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier , home

    Sept. 28, 2023, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Read Montague, Ph.D., Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor and Director, Center for Human Neuroscience Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; Professor, Department of Physics, Virginia Tech College of Science | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    In Person Seminar: Mitochondrial Ion Stress in Neurodegeneration
    In Person Seminar: Mitochondrial Ion Stress in Neurodegeneration , home

    Sept. 29, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Xinnan Wang, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Neurobiology Research

  • Home Item
    In Person Seminar: Precision Medicine in Cardiac Electrophysiology
    In Person Seminar: Precision Medicine in Cardiac Electrophysiology , home

    Oct. 6, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Jennifer Silva, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology, Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Jonathan Silva, Ph.D., Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis; and | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research

  • Home Item
    Cloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk
    Cloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk , home

    Oct. 19, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | J. Marshall Shepherd, Ph.D., Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography, Director, UGA Atmospheric Sciences Program, University of Georgia, and Member, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    In Person Seminar: Adolescent Alcohol, Behavioral Flexibility, and Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance in Control Circuitry
    In Person Seminar: Adolescent Alcohol, Behavioral Flexibility, and Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance in Control Circuitry , home

    Oct. 20, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Charlotte Boettiger, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience Program, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, UNC School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Health Behaviors Research and the Addiction Recovery Research Center

  • Home Item
    Learning and Relearning Movement
    Learning and Relearning Movement , home

    Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Amy Bastian, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Neuroscience and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Chief Science Officer and Senior Vice President, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Member, National Academy of Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture