Epigenetic mechanisms by which exercise prevents the negative effects of high fat/sugar diet on health (focus on stem cells)

The current rise in consumption of high fat/sugar diets and sedentary lifestyle has precipitated a step-like increase in the incidence of diseases (from metabolic syndrome to depression). Physical exercise can reduce or reverse some of the negative the effects of high fat diet. For example, while most of the adipose tissue in the adult stores fat, activation of brown fat tissue can suppress weight gain and improve metabolic syndrome. Exercise might stimulate activation/formation of brown fat.

Consuming a high fat diet not only damages the body but also the brain. Indeed, exercise and high fat diet have opposite effects on neurogenesis and anxiety-like behaviour.

This project focuses on understanding, at the epigenetic and stem cell level, how exercise counteracts the effects of high fat/sugar diet. Adult neurogenesis and adipogenesis are complex processes where each step (proliferation, survival, differentiation) is regulated by epigenetic modifications. The objective of this project is to determine the epigenetic network underlying the preventive effects of high fat/sugar diet, with particular emphasis on stem cells (neurogenesis and adipogenesis).

This project will provide interdisciplinary training in epigenetics, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, immunohistochemistry, imaging, and in vivo physiology and behaviour. Moreover, the project will equip the student with a range of skills indispensable for career progression, including experimental planning, data analysis and bioinformatics.