Quarterly Highlights: January to March 2020

Celebrations & Successes

MODR Co-Directors Gregory Steinberg and Katherine Morrison & colleagues had their paper selected as one of the top endocrine discoveries in 2019 by The Endocrine Society.
https://endocrinenews.endocrine.org/eureka-2019-mri-brown-adipose-fat-activity/

CIHR Project Grant: Congratulations to Russell De Souza and team on their success in the CIHR Project Grant for their study to prevent gestational diabetes in South Asian Women.

Gita Wahi (Co-Investigator) with Sonia Anand (PI) and others recently received a CIHR catalyst grant for “Understanding the levers and barriers towards improved health among South Asians Across the Life-Course: Can we empower women as Agents of Change?”

Katherine Morrison, co-Principal Investigator with Dr Andraea Van Hulst (McGill University), and colleagues received a CIHR Operating Grant: Data Analysis Using Existing Databases and Cohorts for “Neighbourhood environments and weight management outcomes in the Canadian Pediatric Weight Management Registry (CANPWR).”

Congratulations to MODR Trainee Eric Desjardins – Eric was chosen as a recipient of the MSU McMaster TA Merit Award.

Presentations and Publications

MODR Trainees Julian Yabut (first author), Eric Dejardins, Emily Day & Bo Wang with MODR members Wali Khan, Gregory Steinberg & Katherine Morrison published Genetic deletion of mast cell serotonin synthesis prevents the development of obesity and insulin resistance in Nature Communications. 

Recent findings from MODR Member Rick Austin show that deficiencies in GDF10 leads to diet induced obesity and NAFLD in Molecular Metabolism: GDF10 blocks hepatic PPARγ activation to protect against diet-induced liver injury.

New work by MODR investigator Jonathan Schertzer and colleagues published in the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism – Glucose alters the microbiome and the microbiome alters glucose. 
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/ajpendo.00485.2019

MODR Members Marie Pigeyre, Hertzel Gerstein and Guillaume Paré along with co-authors found a causal protective effect of ACE inhibitors on type 2 diabetes risk using a Mendelian randomization approach. Paper published in Diabetes Care. 
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/43/4/835

A new paper from MODR Co-Director Katherine Morrison and MODR trainee Efrah Yousuf & colleagues summarizes the research on infant body composition, reporting higher body fat in preterm infants at term age and highlights differences between fat measurement methods in infants.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/2/288

Postbiotics: Some bacterial bits use non-immune cells to alter blood glucose published in the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism by  the MODR member Jonathan Schertzer and team.

Publication in Nature Metabolism from Jonathan Schertzer and team –  Type 2 Diabetes influences bacterial tissue compartmentalization in human obesity

MODR Post-Doc Nicole Barra, MODR member Jonathan Schertzer and co-authors – NLRP3 inflammasome regulates adipose tissue published in Biochemical Journal. 

Gita Wahi was coauthor on the paper “A qualitative investigation of optimal perinatal health: the perspectives of south Asian grandmothers living in southern Ontario, Canada” in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.    

Nikhil Pai presented a symposium on “Malnutrition in Pediatric Refugees: Evaluation and Treatment” at the Trauma-Informed Care & Advances in Refugee Healthcare meeting in February. This one-day conference was joint-sponsored by McMaster University and Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations-Canada (UOSSM).

MODR Trainees Efrah Yousuf (PhD Candidate) and Chiara Homaan (MSc Candidate) from Katherine Morrison’s lab represented the Baby & Pre-Mi and Baby, Food & Mi studies at the Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting in Banff in February 2020.