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Florida Faculty and Professional Staff
Andrew Butler
Associate Professor
Metabolism & Aging
TSRI - 2009
Education
B.Sc. with 1st Class Honors (1990) - University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Ph.D (1995) - University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Fogarty International Fellow (1995-1998) - National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Awards & Activities
Lilly Scientific Achievement Award from The Obesity Society (2008)
Junior Faculty Award from the American Diabetes Association (2004-2007)
Research Focus
The Neuroendocrine Control of Energy Homeostasis.
The United States is experiencing an epidemic of obesity, where excessive calorie intake and reduced activity lead to a condition associated with increased risk for metabolic diseases associated with impaired glucose homeostasis. Determining the mechanisms involved in the homeostatic regulation of appetite and expenditure of energy provide targets for developing therapies against obesity and diabetes. Molecular clocks that maintain a 24 rhythm of behavior and metabolism can entrain to meal time, and have an important role in coordinating the body’s metabolism with peak periods of food intake. We have shown that the melanocortin-3 receptor, a neuropeptide receptor expressed in the brain, is essential for entrainment of clocks in the brain and key organ systems to meal time. This system also appears to have a critical function in maintaining a normal balance of glucose and lipid metabolism. We have also identified a new protein named adropin, which also appears to have an important role in maintaining glucose homeostasis. Obesity may be a state of adropin deficiency, and ddropin therapy has shown some promise in preclinical studies to reverse the metabolic disorder associated with excess food intake and weight gain.
Selected References
Kumar KG, Trevaskis JL, Lam DD, Sutton GM, Koza RA, Chouljenko VN, Kousoulas KG, Rogers PM, Kesterson RA, Thearle M, Ferrante AW Jr, Mynatt RL, Burris TP, Dong JZ, Halem HA, Culler MD, Heisler LK, Stephens JM, Butler AA. Identification of adropin as a secreted factor linking dietary macronutrient intake with energy homeostasis and lipid metabolism. Cell Metab. 2008 Dec;8(6):468-81.
Sutton GM, Perez-Tilve D, Nogueiras R, Fang J, Kim JK, Cone RD, Gimble JM, Tschöp MH, Butler AA. The melanocortin-3 receptor is required for entrainment to meal intake. J Neurosci. 2008 Nov 26;28(48):12946-55.
Trevaskis JL, Meyer EA, Galgani JE, Butler AA. Counterintuitive effects of double-heterozygous null melanocortin-4 receptor and leptin genes on diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in C57BL/6J mice. Endocrinology. 2008 Jan;149(1):174-84.
Zhou L, Sutton GM, Rochford JJ, Semple RK, Lam DD, Oksanen LJ, Thornton-Jones ZD, Clifton PG, Yueh CY, Evans ML, McCrimmon RJ, Elmquist JK, Butler AA, Heisler LK. Serotonin 2C receptor agonists improve type 2 diabetes via melanocortin-4 receptor signaling pathways. Cell Metab. 2007 Nov;6(5):398-405.
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