Dr. Morris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. His lab investigates how the susceptibility to diet-induced weight gain is mediated by systemic and peripheral energy metabolism through the modulation of the neural centers regulating energy intake and expenditure. His work centers on how the function of the primary energy producing cellular bodies, mitochondria, can impact tissue function and ultimately systemic health. Currently, the lab is investigating: 1) how liver mitochondrial function can, through neural pathways to the brain, influence high fat diet-induced weight, 2) how systemic energy expenditure serves as an independent regulator of weight gain and adiposity, and 3) whether transcriptional control of mitochondria in the ventromedial hypothalamus is necessary for susceptibility to weight gain.