Brian Zamarron
e-mail address: zamarrbf@umich.edu

Mentor: Carey Lumeng, MD, PhD

Research Description

Obesity is now known to generate a state of chronic low-grade inflammation.  Importantly, many of the negative health effects of obesity, such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, are related to this inflammation.  Adipose tissue itself contains a number of immune cells, and obesity is associated with the accumulation and activation of macrophages and Th1 lymphocytes within this tissue.  Relatively little is known about how these cells interact and, ultimately, what influence this interaction has on disease and immunity.  Research is focused on studying the mechanisms by which adipose tissue macrophages shift from an M2 to an M1 state and how this relates to T cell activation and suppression in adipose tissue with obesity.

Publications

Maruyama, T., Konkel, JE., Zamarron, BF., Chen, W. The Molecular Mechanisms of Foxp3 Gene Regulation. Seminars in Immunology. December 2011;23(6):418-423

Zamarron, BF & Chen, W.  Dual Roles of Immune Cells and Their Factors in Cancer Development and Progression. Int J Biol Sci. May 2011; 7(5):651-658.

Maruyama, T., Li, J., Vaque, J. P., Konkel, J., Wang, W., Zhang, B., Zhang, P., Zamarron, BF., Yu D., Wu, Y., Zhuang, Y., Gutkind, J. S., & Chen, W.  Control of regulatory T cell and Th17 cell differentiation by inhibitory helix-loop-helix protein Id3. Nature Immunology. January 2011; 12(1):86-95. (doi: 10.1038/ni.1965)

Konkel, JE., Maruyama, T., Carpenter AC., Xiong Y., Zamarron, BF., Hall BE., Kulkarni, A., Zhang, P., Bosselut R., & Chen, W.  Control of CD8αα intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte development by transforming growth factor-beta. Nature Immunology. April 2011;12(4):312-9. (doi: 10.1038/ni.1997)

Li, J., Maruyama, T., Zhang, P., Konkel, J., Hoffmann, V., Zamarron, BF., & Chen, W. Mutation of inhibitory helix-loop-helix protein Id3 causes γδT-cell lymphoma in mice. Blood. December 2010; 116(25):5615-21. (doi: 10.1182/blood-2010-03-274506)

Awards

Rackham Merit Fellowship