Karen Houseknecht speaks at MDI Biological Laboratory
Karen Houseknecht, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology in the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine recently spoke at the MDI Biological Laboratory as part of the Scientific Seminar series.
She discussed the research in her lab, where she works toward understanding the relationship between the regulation of mood and energy metabolism, with an emphasis on elucidating how molecules which regulate mood and reward centers in the brain impact whole-body energy metabolism. The goal is to understand why patients who present with mood disorders such as depression or psychosis are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Houseknecht’s research lies at the interface of neuroscience and endocrinology/metabolism and an important focus of her work is understanding the causes of medication induced disease, studying the pharmacology underlying the development of diabetes, dyslipidemia, bone loss and cardiovascular disease following treatment with psychiatric medications such as atypical antipsychotic (AA) drugs.