Funding Source: Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and NIH R01 DK61935 – The ovarian hormones, estradiol and progesterone, bind to their receptors in the brain and throughout the body to influence behavior and physiology. Our work focuses on how receptors for these hormones function in specific brain regions to influence behavior. We have taken a proteomics-based approach to identify proteins from the brain that interact with estrogen and progestin receptors. More recently we have begun to study how estrogens regulate energy homeostasis. Estrogens elicit profound effects on metabolism by acting to decrease weight gain in women. For example, post-menopausal women tend to gain weight, which increases their risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Estrogens have similar anorectic effects in female rodents. Recent work from our lab and others reveals that estradiol protects against high fat diet-induced obesity in female mice. We are currently exploring different mechanisms by which estrogens elicit these effects in female mice. Much of our work involves collaborations with colleagues at Wellesley and others in the United States and abroad. By enhancing our knowledge of basic hormone mechanisms, we may better understand how hormones impact women’s health and disease, including breast cancer, diabetes and obesity.