Mood and motivational impairments in obesity

Stéphanie Fulton, PhD, Département de nutrition, Université de Montréal

Stephanie Fulton received her PhD in psychology and behavioural neurobiology at Concordia University in Montreal in 2003. Her graduate work led to the discovery that metabolic hormones and neuropeptides can modulate brain reward circuitry. Stephanie then joined the neuroendocrinology and metabolism laboratory of Jeffrey Flier at Harvard Medical School. Her research there identified the critical influence of leptin on the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. Stephanie began her independent career at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center and the Montreal Diabetes Research Center in 2008. She is a member of the Center for Studies in Behavioural Neurobiology at Concordia and the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center at Yale. 

Her laboratory uses molecular and behavioral tools in rodent models to investigate the neurometabolic processes underlying motivation and emotional states. One line of study aims to identify brain mechanisms that give rise to the rewarding effects of palatable foods, compulsive eating and physical activity. Another focus of her lab is to uncover brain lipid and neuroimmune alterations in response to excess intake of different dietary fats and their impact on the development of mood disorders comorbid with obesity and diabetes.