Discoveries

Naima Moustaid-Moussa's students conducting research in the lab. — Moustaid-Moussa and her students are developing a nematiode worm to better understand obesity through bioengineering.

With more than one-third of adults in the United States considered obese, the need to solve this epidemic worsens every year. Not only does obesity affect a person’s daily life, but also those who suffer from it are far more likely to experience diseases such as stroke, Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers and heart disease.

Obesity and obesity-related illnesses come with an estimated $147 billion in annual medical costs each year. Reported per-capita medical spending for those suffering from obesity ranged from $1,429 to $2,741 (42-150 percent) compared to those with normal weights. Texas Tech University researchers are searching for answers to curtail the dangerous problems posed to individuals suffering its effects and American society as a whole with the Transdisciplinary Obesity Research Cluster (ORC).

The Texas Tech University Obesity Research Cluster (ORC) was established in spring 2013. This collaborative research cluster was initiated by Naima Moustaid-Moussa, who serves as the cluster’s director; Linda Hoover, dean of the College of Human Sciences; and the Office of Research & Innovation.

The first year I came to Texas Tech, I started meeting with people around the Texas Tech campus and at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center who do anything related to obesity, Moustaid-Moussa said. The more I got to meet the faculty here and at HSC, the more I saw that we have a critical mass of researchers conducting research broadly-related to obesity. We have people studying obesity and cancer, diabetes, nutrition, and other chronic diseases from the cell to the community level. All sorts of facets to this multi-faceted problem. So, we started to have meetings and brainstorm on ways to collaborate. And through the meetings, we had the opportunity to develop a good collaborative initiative that is now the ORC.

Texas Tech and Texas Tech Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) are two of the four institutions making up the Texas Tech University System. The TTUHSC Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences have taken an active role in this research collaboration.

TTUHSC is happy to collaborate with our colleagues at TTU to bring value to Texas, said P. Michael Conn, senior vice president for research and associate provost at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Not only will this program increase our understanding of obesity, but will result in new joint grants that will bring good quality research jobs to the area.

Researchers are achieving national leadership and recognition in interdisciplinary obesity research by developing basic clinical and community translational research to prevent and treat obesity along with its related complications. By doing so, they hope to understand the causes and complications of obesity and develop methods that will help prevent and treat obesity along with its related complications.

Along with the research at Texas Tech included in this issue’s other stories on obesity, researchers such as Mary Rogge, an associate professor from the TTUHSC School of Nursing, is interested in environmental and endocrine factors that affect obesity and pathways to obesity. Leslie Shen, a professor of pathology in the TTUHSC School of Medicine, is looking to discover how obesity affects bone density. Jannette Dufour, an associate dean for research and associate professor of cell biology and biochemistry at TTUHSC, is looking at diabetes. The latter two, along with Moustaid-Moussa and other Nutritional Sciences and Kinesiology faculty are looking at how a vitamin E derivative improves obesity, diabetes and bone health.

Two professors from Texas Tech University’s Department of Nutritional Sciences received prestigious national research awards from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), the premier research society dedicated to improving the quality of life through the science of nutrition. Nikhil Dhurandhar, department chairman and past president of The Obesity Society, accepted the 2015 Osborne and Mendel Award, while Moustaid-Moussa, accepted the 2015 Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Nutritional Sciences Award. Latha Ramalingam, another early career member and research assistant professor in Nutritional Sciences, received an Early Career Grant Challenge Award from The Obesity Society in 2015 and will be receiving the New Faculty Award in the Basic Sciences at the International Congress of Obesity in May 2016.

Other ORC members serve in high leadership positions in The Obesity Society and the American Society for Nutrition. Many ORC members are engaged in global collaborations related to nutrition and obesity with other universities in the U.S., Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.

The Obesity Cluster is an excellent example of the transdisciplinary work that is occurring between Texas Tech and the TTUHSC, said Robert V. Duncan, vice president for strategic research initiatives. No one scientist working in one discipline can solve a massive issue such as obesity. By working together across disciplines, our scientists are able to spark new ideas and make significant strides in addressing the challenges facing our society.

Feature

Sharing the Health

Through collaboration, Texas Tech researchers attack obesity together with Obesity Research Cluster.