Researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center conducted a first-of-its-kind study to provide insights into the mechanisms of action of tirzepatide – a drug known as Zepbound™ – on weight loss with respect to energy expenditure, fat oxidation and calorie intake. The study, “Tirzepatide did not impact metabolic adaptation in people with obesity, but increased fat oxidation,” published in Cell Metabolism, showed that tirzepatide decreased participants’ calorie intake at lunch/dinner by reducing appetite while increasing fat oxidation, thus helping participants to lose weight. However, the drug did not decrease the slowing down of their metabolic rate usually observed with weight loss.

If administered early, gene therapy has the potential to change the medical history of children born with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a rare and lethal neurodegenerative disease of genetic origin which leads to the progressive loss of the ability to walk, talk and interact. This was confirmed by a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine which showed that the therapy, if administered early, is able to preserve motor function and cognitive abilities in most patients..The study was conducted at Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan and is the result of more than 20 years of research by the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy and the commitment of Fondazione Telethon to transforming research into therapies available for patients.

Immunologist Shane Crotty, Ph.D., Professor and Chief Scientific Officer at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Crotty was elected to this prestigious organization in recognition of his leadership in immune system research and his breakthroughs in understanding fundamental aspects of how the immune system works.