Mapping feeding circuits in the human brain
The hypothalamus and dorsal vagal complex (DVC) are regions of the brain that sense circulating peripheral signals, and hence regulate a wide variety of homeostatic functions. Key circuits within the hypothalamus and the hindbrain, for example, sense and integrate peripheral nutritional signals, and as a consequence, regulate appetite and bodyweight. The inaccessibility of the human brain has meant our understanding of circuitry controlling food intake has emerged primarily from murine studies. With both regions expressing receptors which are key targets for obesity, including the latest incretin-based therapeutics, it is an imperative to understand the neuroarchitecture underlying these systems in the human context. Now, collaborations with the MRC Brain Network, the NIH NeuroBioBank and the Netherlands Brain Bank, has allowed us access to fresh and fixed human donor brain samples. We have generated a comprehensive spatio-cellular map of the human hypothalamus, we have called the Human HYPOMAP. We have used HYPOMAP to identify spatially distinct neuronal and non-neuronal populations. We have also used HYPOMAP as a platform for discovery, by identifying not only hypothalamic neuronal clusters that are enriched in expression of BMI GWAS identified genes, but also discovering a new gene previously not linked to energy homeostasis, that when mutated, influences body-weight on a population level. We are currently doing the same for the DVC, and are calling this HINDMAP.
Date: 26 February 2026, 16:00
Venue: TBD
Speaker: Professor Giles Yeo (University of Cambridge)
Organiser: Luba Samson (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: liubou.samson@lmh.ox.ac.uk
Host: Cortex Club (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Garry Cherepakhov