Interplay between white and brown fat tissue and brain structure and function

Project Description:

White (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) serve distinct functions in mammals including humans. Previous studies have shown that body weight is related to brain structure and function. Using multimodal neuroimaging of the brain including resting state fMRI, whole body MRI to examine the extent and distribution of white and brown Extent and distribution of WAT and BAT is related to distinct variations in brain structure and function in particular in reward-related and homeostatic brain areas. Using state of the art analyses including machine learning techniques based on these data sets we will try to disentangle the role of WAT/BAT for brain structure and function.

 

Experimental Methods:

• Whole body structural MRI
• Structural MRI of the brain (DTI, VBM, Cortical Thickness)
• Resting State fMRI
• Machine Learning, Support Vector Machines
• Metabolic profiling