On behalf of the Dean of the College of Medicine Dr. Khaled Al Kattan, we would like to congratulate Dr. Stephanos Ioannou who was awarded by the National Neuroscience Institute of KFMC a grant of 215,500 SAR for the research entitled “Obesity and Brain Function: A MEG study”, where Dr. Stephanos is the Primary researcher and CO-Principle Investigator in this study, and Dr. Khaled Al Kattan has bridged the collaboration between Alfaisal University and KFMC.
Obesity is recognized as an “escalating epidemic” affecting both developed and developing countries. Obesity is associated with a large number of debilitating and life-threatening disorders such as cardiovascular, metabolic and other non-communicable diseases. The childhood roots of adult obesity are widely recognized which calls for health promotion targeted at youth. The majority of studies that have investigated cortical responses to food stimuli have used fMRI. This was because of the superior spatial resolution of the technique as well as the nature of the research question. At the very beginning of food studies research questions mainly revolved around the cortical network of food and brain regions involved in satiety and were not concerned with the temporal latency of cortical responses in the view of food (Berthoud, 2002; Berthood & Morrison, 2008). In the current experimental paradigm the research team aims to examine the very premonition of a feeding episode by obese and healthy controls, which could be the key for a chain reaction of healthy feeding habits. Thus magneto-encephalography has been selected as the preferred method of study.
Cordial congratulations for Dr. Stephanos and his research team…Well deserved!
