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Andrew Libby PhD, MS
(He/Him)
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado School of Medicine
- Endocrinology (SOM)
Background
Andrew Libby, PhD, MS, received his PhD at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and his MS from the University of Colorado Boulder. Over the past 13 years, Dr. Libby has been studying metabolism and obesity with a developed fascination of sex differences that he observed in many of the animal models he studied in the laboratory. Much of the classic understanding of metabolism and adipose tissue function was derived from studies in males. He recognizes that there is so much more to learn from examining how both normal physiology and diseases may differ based on sex and believes in the importance of determining the reasons why many therapeutic treatments exhibit different efficacies in females compared to male counterparts.
Research + Funding
In 2021, Libby began his Ludeman Center-funded research project titled, “The Impact of Bone Marrow-Derived Adipocytes on the Development of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease After Loss of Ovarian Function.” The project was based on the knowledge that loss of ovarian function through menopause or surgical ovariectomy greatly increases the risk of fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in women and rodents, and treatments for NAFLD have only been modestly effective. Interestingly, the loss of ovarian function leads to the enrichment of abdominal adipose tissue with bone marrow-derived adipocytes (BMDA), which have been shown to promote inflammation that might affect other organs such as the liver. The goals of this work are to directly elucidate the contribution of BMDA to fatty liver development after surgical ovariectomy in mice, and to evaluate how BMDA infiltration into abdominal adipose tissue after ovariectomy alters the composition of blood that supplies the liver, or portal blood. Overall, Dr. Libby’s work will uncover new therapeutic targets and strategies for a serious disease which currently has very limited treatments.
What he values most about the Ludeman Center is the access they have provided him with. “Becoming an independent scientific investigator involves acquiring a lot of knowledge that isn’t taught in the classroom or laboratories. The monthly Ludeman Researcher training sessions have provided me with opportunities to gain the necessary skills and expertise to successfully run a laboratory, put together grants and build an independent research program,” he shares.
Transforming Women’s Health
Dr. Libby’s current research priorities include exploring novel therapeutic avenues to prevent and/or reverse BMDA accumulation after loss of ovarian function. In addition, he is characterizing the effects of BMDA on other organs such as the liver, as well as bringing the routine study of BMDA into humans by discovering novel ways to detect and distinguish them from other types of adipocytes.
