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Domingos Group

We investigate neuroimmune molecular mechanisms underlying obesity.

The Domingos laboratory researches neuroimmune mechanisms underlying obesity. They discovered neuro-adipose junctions, between white adipocytes and sympathetic neurons, that are necessary and sufficient for fat mass reduction via norepinephrine (NE) signalling. Moreover, they discovered Sympathetic neuron-Associated Macrophages (SAMs) that import and metabolize NE. Abrogation of SAM function promotes long-term amelioration of obesity independently of food intake. These findings inspired the development of a new class of anti-obesity compounds named sympathofacilitators, which do not enter the brain, nor have the typical cardiovascular side effects of centrally acting sympathomimetic drugs.  Sympathofacilitator drugs act as an energy sink by coupling thermogenesis to active heat dissipation. Ana Domingos is a member of the advisory board of Cell Metabolism and her lab has been funded by HHMI, Wellcome Trust, ERC, HFSP, EMBO, among others.

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© Guttenplan, Kevin A. et al. (2018) Play It Again, SAM: Macrophages Control Peripheral Fat Metabolism, Trends in Immunology, and Conor A. Bradley (2017). Specialized macrophages contribute to obesity. Nature Reviews Endocrinology. 

 

© Lady Margaret Hall / Dominik Osvald / www.dominikosvald.com

Our team

Recent publications

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Funders

The Domingos Lab is proud to be sponsored by the following funding bodies:

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Interviews

In the media

Media coverage of Nature Medicine 2017, Nature Communications 2017, and Cell 2015:

DPAG News

Ana Domingos Awarded Carl Ludwig Distinguished Lectureship Award

Congratulations are in order for Associate Professor Ana Domingos, who has been awarded the 2023 Carl Ludwig Distinguished Lectureship from the American Physiological Society.

Ana Domingos appointed Editor-in-Chief for distinguished American Physiological Society journal

Congratulations are in order to Associate Professor Ana Domingos on her appointment as Editor-in-Chief for the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Visceral fat supports various fundamental functions, such as reproduction. However, when it is too abundant, it produces unhealthy levels of proteins and hormones that negatively affect neighbouring tissues and organs. In this study authors reveal the first known neuro-immune process by which brain signals instruct immune function in visceral fat stores.

Scientists Decipher How NeuroImmune Interactions Burn Deep Fat

A pioneering collaborative mouse study from an international team of researchers including DPAG's Associate Professor Ana Domingos published in Nature offers new therapeutic avenues for reducing visceral fat stores, which have been associated with cardiovascular disease and multiple types of cancer.

Adipose tissue-resident macrophages control lipid storage through production of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGFcc), which induces lipid retention in white adipose tissue adipocytes in a paracrine manner, although the precise mechanism is unclear. Recruited macrophages are responsible for the inammation that characterizes obese adipose tissue. Treatment with PDGFcc antibodies restores homeostasis, and reduces lipid storage and body weight, redirecting excess lipids mostly to thermogenesis.

New review reveals proof of concept for an anti-obesity immunotherapy

The Domingos lab has published a new opinion piece in Science investigating the implications of a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center study that lays the foundations for a potential new anti-obesity treatment in the form of targeting adipose tissue-resident macrophages.

Ana Domingos joins the Cell Metabolism Advisory Board

Congratulations are in order to Associate Professor Ana Domingos on her appointment to the Advisory Board of the top research journal dedicated to publishing novel, impactful papers spanning basic to clinical metabolic research.

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Related research themes

We host a number of internationally recognised neuroscience groups, with expertise in a wide range of experimental and computational methods.
Neuroscience

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We use the full range of modern molecular genetic and imaging techniques to study a range of metabolic areas.
Metabolism & Endocrinology

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We play a leading role in the development of more efficient and cost-effective sequencing technologies.
Functional Genomics

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