Description : Reis lab's overall goal is to find new hereditary risk factors for obesity and determine how they work. Our research focuses on addressing the following questions: What pathways within fat storage tissues control the balance between energy storage and mobilization? How are feeding and physical activity coordinated to prevent excess stored fat? How do tissues communicate energy demands to the brain? We developed the fly larvae as a powerful model to investigate how an organism balances energy expenditure and storage. Despite its conserved and complex physiology, in Drosophila a single gene usually performs the function of a family of related mammalian genes, and can be manipulated experimentally in specific tissues, crucial advantages for the analysis of gene function.