Anita Öst

Project summary

Epigenetic inheritance of metabolic diseases

Obesity is a global health problem that continues to grow. With the aim of identifying new treatments, Anita Öst investigates how so-called epigenetic programmes are established in fruit flies. These programmes are influenced by our parents’ lifestyles and may affect our eating behaviour.

 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people with clinical obesity doubled between 1980 and 2014. If this trend continues at the same rate, almost 40 per cent of the world’s adult population will be overweight by 2030.

 

Anita Öst studies the body’s so-called epigenetic programmes – molecular mechanisms through which acquired characteristics can be transmitted from parents to their offspring. These programmes are likely to influence our eating behaviour and how much fat we accumulate. In her studies, she uses fruit flies. Their advantages include rapid reproduction and the availability of a wide range of genetic tools. Previous research has shown that the amount of sugar consumed by male fruit flies in the days before mating affects how much fat their male offspring accumulate.

 

The aim is to develop ways of manipulating these epigenetic programmes and, in the long term, contribute to new treatments for obesity and obesity-related diseases.