Aging

Salk scientists study how biological processes, like metabolism, can be used to improve cancer treatment outcomes. Tiny proteins, called microproteins, have long been overlooked in obesity and metabolic disease research. Now, Professor Alan Saghatelian and colleagues at UC Irvine have discovered that both brown and white fat are filled with thousands of previously unknown microproteins. They also showed that administering one of these microproteins, called Gm8773, can increase appetite in mice. Their findings may lead to the development of a therapeutic to help people gain weight in certain disease situations, such as during chemotherapy for cancer.