New funding from the National Institutes of Health builds on previous work to examine novel copper pathways
Copper ore
The University of Maryland (UMD) recently received $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore copper’s role in your body’s adaptive response to the cold, which is likely connected to your metabolism and fat burning abilities. Byung-Eun Kim, associate professor in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at UMD and lead investigator on this grant, studies the importance of copper and copper transport routes for the health of humans and animals alike. Kim laid the groundwork for this funding with preliminary research over the last few years in his lab, including a high profile paper he co-authored in Science establishing the ability of a small molecule called elesclomol to transport free copper in the body. By understanding the underlying mechanisms of how copper is transported and relates to heat generation and fat burning, this work has the potential to improve human health.
“My new grant takes a new and unique approach for copper transport research,” says Kim. “Thermogenesis, or adaptive heat generation in response to cold temperatures, is a process that is very important for humans and mammals that are warm blooded and need to maintain body temperature. My lab found some preliminary results showing that copper needs to be imported into the adipose tissues [otherwise known as body fat] to adapt and produce heat. Burning fatty acids helps you produce heat when you need it most, and copper seems to be essential to that process. With this grant, we want to explore these mechanisms more to see how it all connects to health problems like hypothermia, and even obesity and diabetes.”
