Featuring Dr. Aaron Cypess
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Show Notes
In this conversation, Dr. Aaron Cypess discusses his research on brown adipose tissue (BAT), an organ that burns fat to generate heat. Initially thought to be present only in small mammals and young children, functional BAT was discovered in adult humans in 2009, spurring global research into its potential for treating obesity and metabolic diseases. Dr. Cypess explains the differences between BAT and white adipose tissue (WAT), and how BAT communicates with other tissues through hormones. Dr. Cypess then focuses on BAT's role in diabetes and obesity, highlighting the collaborative environment that supports his research.
Guest:
Aaron M. Cypess, MD, PhD, MMSc
Senior Investigator and Chief, Translational Physiology Section, DEOB, NIDDK, NIH
Aaron M. Cypess, MD, PhD, is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Translational Physiology Section at the NIH in Washington, DC. He studied chemistry at Princeton University where he graduated with highest honors. He has a medical degree from Cornell University, a doctorate from The Rockefeller University, and a master’s in medical sciences from Harvard University. Prior to his arrival at the NIH, Dr. Cypess was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He trained in the research group of C. Ronald Kahn, where they demonstrated that brown adipose tissue is a functional organ in adult humans. Dr. Cypess’ current research focuses on human brown and white adipose tissue physiology and their utilization to treat obesity-related metabolic disease.
Host:
David Yarmosh, MS
Lead Bioinformatician, ATCC
David Yarmosh is a lead bioinformatician in ATCC’s Sequencing and Bioinformatics Center. He’s a graduate of New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. He has been working in large data aggregation and analysis since 2013 and microbial genomics with a focus on biosurveillance R&D efforts since 2016. David has led international training exercises in Peru and Senegal, sharing metagenomic analytical capabilities. His interests include genomics database construction, metadata collection, drug resistance mechanisms, bioinformatics standards, and machine learning. Since joining ATCC in 2020, David has worked extensively in SARS-CoV-2 classification, epidemiology, and genomics evaluation, including enhanced and uniform variant reporting. He has contributed more broadly to genomics reporting and analytical standardization and he has helped develop the podcast Behind the Biology, which he now hosts.
