Maren Laughlin, Ph.D.

Responsibilities & Activities

In addition to co-directing the NIDDK Office of Obesity Research, Dr. Laughlin is responsible for two grant portfolios: the Energy Balance, Thermogenesis and Mitochondria portfolio and the Molecular and Functional Imaging portfolio.  The first is focused on mitochondrial function (architecture and dynamics), lipid metabolism, or on mechanisms of thermogenesis and energy balance either on the tissue level (liver, muscle, fat, brain) or at the whole-body level in health, diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity.  Studies can be focused on mitochondrial energy production, communication, remodeling, and on oxidative or other pathways, and how they are altered in metabolic diseases.  These can include exchange between mitochondria and cytoplasm, or on cross-talk between tissues.  Thermogenesis and energy balance studies can be focused on regulation of redox state, energy production, utilization, and conversion at the cell, tissue, or whole-body level, in health and metabolic disease.  Studies focused on energy and substrate exchange between organs are appropriate for this portfolio.
The Molecular and Functional Imaging portfolio encompasses in vivo functional and molecular imaging or spectroscopic techniques to visualize various aspects of diabetes and obesity, endocrinology, metabolism, and metabolic diseases, particularly new applications of these technologies. This could include studies that focus on in vivo imaging pancreatic beta cell mass, perfusion, angiogenesis, inflammation, and function; peripheral vascular or nerve function in diabetes; inflammation in fat, skeletal muscle, and liver in obesity; mass and function of human brown adipose tissue; and indices of insulin resistance. 
Dr. Laughlin also serves as project scientist for several consortia.  These include the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers (MMPC-Live) which offer a range of tests that elucidate subtle to complex traits that characterize live murine models of metabolic disease on a fee-for-service basis; The Physiology of the Weight Reduced State (POWERS), a multi-Center clinical trial interrogating the mechanisms involved in heterogeneity of weight gain following weight loss; and the Type 1 Diabetes Acute Pancreatitis Consortium (T1DAPC) which conducts the Diabetes RElated to Acute pancreatitis and its Mechanisms (DREAM) study of the incidence and type of diabetes that occurs following acute pancreatitis. 

Committees & Working Groups

• Acting Co-Director, Office of Obesity Research