Neurobiology of Nutrition Laboratory

News & Announcements

• Dr. Andrew Shin received a Tenure and was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2025 at Texas Tech.
• Dr. Andrew Shin was selected in 2025 as the Chair-Elect for the Neuroscience Section in The Obesity Society (TOS).
• Dr. Andrew Shin secured AIREA grant from American Heart Association (AHA) in 2025 to study "The role of BCAAs in the brain reward system and food appetite".
• Fereshteh Dehghani published a review article in 2025, "Dietary flavonoid actions on aging, senescence, and applications for health". Congratulations!
• Dr. Andrew Shin published an original research article in 2025, "Relationships between diabetes, vitamin D status, depression, and Hispanic ethnicity: A project FRONTIER study".
• Marjan Ramezan received a Graduate Research Grant from The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the TTU Graduate School in 2025. Congratulations!
• Marjan Ramezan is the first author of a review article published in Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry in 2025, "Milk-derived bioactive peptides in insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes". Congratulations!
• Dr. Andrew Shin gave an invited seminar in 2025 at the Department of Kinesiology and Sports Management on "Deep dive into BCAAs, blood glucose, and insulin sensitivity".
• Dr. Andrew Shin published an original research article in 2025, "Low-dose dietary vorinostat increases brain histone acetylation levels and reduces oxidative stress in an AD mouse model".
• Fereshteh Dehghani Received the Graduate Research Support Award from the TTU Graduate School in 2024. Congratulations!
• Zobayda Farzana Haque is the recipient of the Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) from the Society for Neuroscience in 2024. Congratulations!

Past News & Announcements

Overview

We are interested in how the brain is able to integrate nutrient-related signals from various tissues in the body to control body weight and appetite, as well as nutrient metabolism (glucose, amino acids, lipids) in the context of obesity and diabetes. Related to this, we also study how Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), a type of bariatric surgery considered to be one of the most effective treatments for obesity/diabetes, successfully lowers body weight and improves metabolic outcomes. How RYGB surgery rewires both "homeostatic" and "hedonic/reward" systems to defend the new lower body weight is a very interesting topic. We are also interested in parsing out the relationship between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease (AD), and in identifying novel biomarkers and treatments for AD.