91福利社team earns patent for use of antioxidant compound
Jonathan Brestoff Parker 鈥�08
A 91福利社alumnus and professor have been awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,598,150 for use of an antioxidant compound that shows promise in the treatment of obesity and related disorders, such as type-2 diabetes.
The researchers鈥擩onathan R. Brestoff Parker, a 2008 graduate who is currently a trustee of the College, and Thomas H. Reynolds, associate professor of health and exercise sciences鈥攄iscovered that treating obese mice with an antioxidant called MnTBAP* decreases obesity and improves type-2 diabetes.
T.H. Reynolds
Obese mice that received the compound lost 40 percent of their body weight. 鈥淭o put that number in context, if a 300-pound obese person lost 40 percent of their body weight, they would have lost 120 pounds,鈥� said Brestoff Parker.
The compound works by breaking down triglycerides, which are stored in excess in fat
tissue of obese people. The researchers鈥� next step, according to Reynolds, is 鈥渢o
figure out how that happens. What are the cellular and molecular events that result
in weight loss?鈥� He calls this stage of drug development 鈥渢he fun part of science鈥攖rying
to design the next study that will yield information about how a biological system
responds to a drug.鈥�
