Excessive consumption of nutrients with high caloric density is in part responsible for the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Western countries. Excessive caloric intake and obesity negatively affect intermediary metabolism, insulin secretion, and insulin action in peripheral and central insulin-sensitive tissues (e.g. fat, muscle, liver and central nervous system) which in turn, at least in genetically predisposed individuals, leads to T2D. In the central nervous system, it is now well established that the hypothalamus is a crucial integrative center for the control of energy homeostasis. The hypothalamus controls food intake as well as the metabolic and endocrine activity of several peripheral tissues (e.g. liver, pancreas, adipose tissues and muscle) via the autonomic nervous system. Our laboratory is interested by the role of the hypothalamo-pancreatic axis in the pathogenesis of T2D. We are investigating the mechanisms leading to impaired sensing of nutrients in neurons of the hypothalamus in response to fuel surfeit and their involvement in the nervous control of beta cell biology and plasticity, insulin secretion and sensitivity. We are also interested in the neural adaptations that may occur in the hypothalamus in response to fuel surfeit and how they could contribute to the development of T2D.

Thierry Alquier received his graduate training in Cellular Biology and Physiology at Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse (France) under the mentorship of Dr Luc Pénicaud. His PhD thesis investigated the role of insulin and the insulin-sensitive glucose transporter GLUT4 in the central nervous system on the neural control of glucose homeostasis. As an American Diabetes Association and Fondation Bettencourt Schueller-funded postdoctoral fellow, he joined the laboratory of Dr Barbara Kahn at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston to pursue training in hypothalamic control of energy metabolism and neuroendocrinology. There, his work identified the role of the hypothalamic AMP-activated protein Kinase (AMPK) in nutrient-sensing mechanisms and in food intake regulation. Dr Alquier pursued his training in Montréal as a Canadian Diabetes Association postdoctoral fellow to study nutrient-sensing mechanisms in the pancreatic ß-cell in the laboratory of Dr Vincent Poitout where he investigated the role of the fatty acid receptor GPR40 in the control of ß-cell function and insulin secretion. In 2009, Dr Alquier became a member of the Montreal Diabetes Research Center and was appointed Assistant Professor at the Departement of Medecine and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Departement of Pathology & Cellular Biology in the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montréal. Dr Alquier’s laboratory is located at the Technopôle Angus research site of the Centre de Recherche du CHUM.