The Ramesh Ramachandran laboratory is interested in characterizing the influence of adipose tissue hormones on avian growth and reproduction.
Adipose tissue is considered as an endocrine organ secreting a variety of hormones that are involved in the development of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and reproductive disorders. Our laboratory has cloned the chicken genes that encode for two adipose tissue hormones, adiponectin and visfatin. We are determining the factors that influence the biological functions and formation of multimeric forms of adiponectin and visfatin.
Overall, we are interested in characterizing the physiological role of adiponectin and visfatin on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, hypothalamic control of pituitary gland function and gonadal functions. Additionally, our laboratory is studying the neuroendocrine control of female reproduction. We are elucidating the role of a novel neuropeptide, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, and its receptor in controlling pituitary hormone secretion and ovarian follicular maturation. We use a variety of experimental approaches to study gene and protein expression as well as post-translational modifications at the cellular, tissue and organismal levels.
