Dr. Lisa Cassis – NIH Phase III Center of Biomedical research Excellence (COBRE)
The Phase III Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases (COCVD) focuses on identification of mechanisms and development of therapies that target obesity as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease).
In its 11th year and extending into 2023, this center promotes 3 scientific core facilities and supports pilot projects that help us understand why obesity increases disease development.
Dr. Lisa Cassis is the Director of this Center and has overall responsibility including moving the cores to be self-sustaining on a fee for service basis.
Dr. Andrew Morris is the Director of the Analytical Core which uses mass spectroscopy towards unbiased detection of lipids and lipid species.
Dr. Wendy Katz is the Director of the Pathology Core which provides paraffin embedding and sectioning of many different tissues from multiple species, including humans.
Dr. Changcheng Zhou is the Director of the Energy Balance and Body Composition Core which quantifies energy balance and body composition in mice.
Dr. Kevin Pearson directs the pilot project program which provides short-term funding for meritorious pilot studies that focus on obesity as a risk factor for human diseases.
