Stephen Benoit Email & Phone Number

My research interests are focused on the behavioral and neuroendocrine regulation of food intake and body weight. Under normal circumstances, caloric intake is precisely matched to caloric expenditure such that the amount of stored calories in the form of body fat remains stable. Much evidence suggests that this is accomplished via peripheral hormones that signal the total amount of body fat to key sites in the central nervous system. My work has aimed to delineate the effects of these hormones, such as leptin, on ingestive behavior and energy balance. To this end, we have been interested in several hypothalamic neuropeptide systems that might mediate the effects of leptin and other hormones. The second area of my research involves basic theoretical and neurobiological mechanisms of learning and behavior itself. In one arm of this research I have focused on the interactions between key metabolic pathways (e.g., insulin signaling) in CNS function and how those pathways might influence cognition. Additionally, we are now interested in the potential roles of CNS structures known to be important for learning and memory in the control of food intake and metabolism. An obvious extension of this work is the investigation of how mechanisms of CNS plasticity might also be important for normal energy balance. In this way, my areas of primary research interest are quite complimentary, with hypotheses in one area leading directly to hypotheses in the other. In the second arm of my behavioral work, I am interested in the development and implementation of a full battery of behavioral assays, to be used by my colleagues in molecular biology, genetics, and other areas of “bench” science. Along these lines, we have made significant progress, with potentially significant influence on clinical outcomes.

Listed skills include Science, Research, Statistics, Molecular Biology, and 15 others.