The recent discovery that adult humans possess energy-burning "beige" fat cells has set Dr. Holly Bates on a novel research path utilizing wild mice that could lead to a cure for obesity.

Professor Bates, an assistant professor in Trent's Biology department, is investigating whether Peromyscus leucopus (white footed mouse), a species native to the Peterborough area, makes a better model to study brown and beige fat biology than normal lab mice.

"In our bodies we have white fat, which stores energy, and brown fat, which burns energy to keep us warm," Prof. Bates explains. "But we've recently discovered an intermediary type of fat, called beige fat, that is found in the white fat depots and acts like brown fat - it burns energy. This is exciting because if we can come up with a way to stimulate the production of beige fat, we can help people burn more energy and reduce obesity."

Prof. Bates is assisted by undergraduate students who work side-by-side with her on lab-based activities such as measuring body weight and food intake, helping with dissections, analyzing tissues, and looking at the expression of proteins in fat cells.

"It's an uncommon training opportunity for undergrad students, because not only do they get experience doing field work and working with wild animals, they also get experience in a health-related field and usually those two don't go together," Prof. Bates explains. "When students are done, they can go either into the health stream or into animal conservation biology."

Alexandra Kuhne, a fourth year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology student who examined fat regulation in mice for her honours thesis, said her experience in the lab with Prof. Bates opened her eyes to the possibility of a career in research. She is currently working as a researcher for water filtration company, Noble Purification and plans to move on to graduate school.

"As an undergrad student, it was a unique experience to be working one-on-one with Prof. Bates  in the lab, doing this type of research with the resources and the capability to make it my own," says Ms. Kuhne, who praises Trent's smaller class sizes for giving undergrad students opportunities to get close to professors and involved in hands-on research.