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Social media

Research groups

Latest Features

'Mouse Brains Appear to Eavesdrop on Their Fat' (The Scientist, September 2022)

The paper, 'Brain-Sparing Sympathofacilitators Mitigate Obesity without Adverse Cardiovascular Effects' has been featured in:

The paper, 'Sympathetic neuron-associated macrophages contribute to obesity by importing and metabolizing norepinephrine' has been featured in:

The paper, 'Sympathetic neuro-adipose connections mediate leptin-driven lipolysis' has been featured in:

The first PhD student of the Domingos lab to graduate, Roksana Pirzgalska, has been featured in:

The second PhD student of the Domingos lab to graduate, Ines Mahu, has been featured in Cell Metabolism:

Ana Domingos

Professor of Neuroscience

  • Tutor of Medicine at Lady Margaret Hall
  • OUI Innovation Champion

The Domingos laboratory researches neuroimmune mechanisms underlying obesity. They discovered neuro-adipose junctions, between white adipocytes and sympathetic neurons, that are necessary and sufficient for fat mass reduction via norepinephrine (NE) signalling. Moreover, they discovered Sympathetic neuron-Associated Macrophages (SAMs) that import and metabolize NE. Abrogation of SAM function promotes long-term amelioration of obesity independently of food intake. These findings inspired the development of a new class of anti-obesity compounds named sympathofacilitators, which do not enter the brain, nor have the typical cardiovascular side effects of centrally acting sympathomimetic drugs.  Sympathofacilitator drugs act as an energy sink by coupling thermogenesis to active heat dissipation. Ana Domingos is a member of the advisory board of Cell Metabolism and her lab has been funded by HHMI, Wellcome Trust, ERC, HFSP, EMBO, among others.

Ana speaks at IMMUNOGLOBAL  talks

© Global Immunotalks

Neuroimmunometabolism, by Prof Ana Domingos

© Oxford University Scientific Society

Optogenetics in NeuroImmunity

Speaking at

Cell Symposia, "Neurometabolism in health and disease", Singapore, April 26–28 2023. Submit abstract. Register now.

GRC Frontiers of Science, "Mechanisms that Underlie Flexible Neural Coding", Les Diablerets Conference Center, Eurotel Victoria, Les Diablerets, VD, Switzerland, May 21 - 26 2023. Apply now.

DNF Symposium 2023, "Multifaceted Brain Communication", The Department of Fundamental Neurosciences (DNF), UNIL, Lausanne, Switzerland, September 15 2023. Registration opens on May 1 2023.

Cell Symposia, "Molecular mechanisms and integrative physiology of obesity", Shanghai, China, October 13 - 15 2023. Submit abstract. Register now.

GRC, "Neuroimmunology in Organismic Function: Shared Mechanisms and Reciprocal Interactions", California, USA, Postponed.

Organisation of conferences

Past Meetings

Keystone Symposia, "Adipose Tissue: Energizing Good Fat / Bioenergetics in Health and Diseases", January 15-20 2023, Keystone, Colorado, USA.

BDI - MDO 2022, "Metabolic Diseases; Breakthrough Discoveries in Diabetes & Obesity", October 23-26 2022.

View all past meetings