MDI Science Café — How our Brain and Nervous System Affect our Metabolic Health and Body Weight

University of Maine neuroscientist Kristy Townsend, Ph.D., will talk about factors contributing to the national epidemic of obesity, such as aging, appetite, diet, exercise and genetic predisposition, and how they are influenced by signaling between the brain and nervous system and the tissues. Townsend studies how the brain and the central and peripheral nervous systems coordinate energy balance, or the relationship between energy intake and expenditure, each of which is modulated by a multiplicity of factors. In addition to obesity, her research has potential applications in the treatment of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, aging and neurodegenerative disease.

The location of this MDI Science Café is the Maine Center for Biomedical Innovation at the MDI Biological Laboratory, located at 159 Old Bar Harbor Rd in Salisbury Cove, Maine.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

MDI Science Cafés are offered in fulfillment of the institution’s mission to promote scientific literacy and increase public engagement with science. The popular events offer a chance to hear directly from speakers about trends in science. Short presentations delivered in everyday language are followed by lively, informal discussion.