Sadaf Farooqi

University of Cambridge, UK

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Title

Neural regulation of human body weight

Abstract

Using genetic approaches, we have shown that disruption of multiple genes in the leptin-melanocortin pathway can cause human obesity. These molecules regulate signaling through hypothalamic circuits which project widely throughout the brain. By coupling genetic, molecular and physiological studies we are discovering key regulators of human eating behaviour. Some of these molecules regulate anxiety/fear responses, social interaction and maternal care, demonstrating the critical role of these circuits in human innate behaviour.

Biosketck

Sadaf Farooqi is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is an internationally leading Clinician Scientist who has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms that underlie obesity and its complications. The work of Sadaf Farooqi and her colleagues has fundamentally altered the understanding of how body weight is regulated. With colleagues, she discovered and characterised the first genetic disorders that cause severe childhood obesity and established that the principal driver of obesity in these conditions was a failure of the control of appetite. Her work is often cited as an exemplar of how the translation of research into the mechanisms of disease can lead to patient benefit. She has received a number of awards including the 2024 Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society. In 2021, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of her exceptional contribution to science.