Zoology and Physiology

Brandon Roberts

Assistant Professor,

Department of Zoology & Physiology,

Department of Animal Science

Office: Biological Sciences 322

Email: brandon.roberts@uwyo.edu

 

Research

Our labs overarching research interest is understanding the neural mechanisms underlying childhood obesity and laying the foundation for therapeutic interventions. Our approach is separated into four primary categories: (1) neurophysiology (2) endocrine signaling (3) developmental programming and (4) biological rhythms. Our short-term goal is to better understand how early life overnutrition disrupts daily rhythms of neural circuits implicated in metabolic and cognitive function. Our long-term goal is to leverage these findings to design targeted behavioral interventions (e.g., time-restricted feeding) to periods of the day when circulating levels and brain responses to satiety signals are the highest.

Education

2015: Ph.D. Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

2009: B.Sci Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Professional experience

2023 – Present: Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

2020-2023: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

2015-2020: Postdoctoral Fellow, Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, OR

Selected Publications

1. Brandon L. Roberts, Jeixin Wang, and Ilia N. Karatsoreos. Circadian desynchronization attenuates information throughput independent of daily rhythms in prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons. Scientific Reports, 2023. DOI: 1038/s41598-023-35898-8

2. Brandon L. Roberts, Eric Kim, Katherine Tennant, Sarah Lindsley, and Paul Kievit. Fibroblast growth factor -1 activates neurons in the arcuate nucleus and dorsal vagal complex. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2021. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.772909

3. Brandon L. Roberts, Baylin J. Bennett, Camdin M. Bennett, Julie M. Carroll, Louise S. Dalbøge, Colin Hall, Wafa Hassouneh, Kristy M. Heppner, Melissa A. Kirigiti, Sarah R. Lindsley, Katherine G. Tennant, Cadence A. True, Andrew Whittle, Anitra C. Wolf, Charles T. Roberts, Jr., Mads Tang-Christensen, Mark W. Sleeman, Michael A. Cowley, Kevin L. Grove, Paul Kievit. Reelin is modulated by diet-induced obesity and has direct actions on arcuate proopiomelanocortin neurons. Molecular Metabolism, 2019. S2212-8778 (19)30147-4.

4. Brandon L. Roberts, Camdin M. Bennett, Julie M. Carroll, Sarah R. Lindsley, and Paul Kievit. Early overnutrition alters synaptic signaling and induces leptin resistance in arcuate proopiomelanocortin neurons. Physiology & Behavior, 2019. 206: 166-174. 

5. Brandon L. Roberts, Mingyan Zhu, Huan Zhao, Crystal Dillon, and Suzanne M. Appleyard. High glucose increases action potential firing of catecholamine neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract by increasing spontaneous glutamate inputs. American Journal of Physiology, 2017. 313(3):R229-R239.