But it's not that simple. Kosmiski treats a few patients in an obesity clinic one half-day per week. But that is far fewer than she saw as a medical student and resident at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and University Hospital from 1985 until 1992. The young physician grew frustrated by the current inability of medical science to help people with obesity. Finally she decided against establishing her own medical practice and chose instead to pursue basic biomedical answers to the questions that every obese patient asks.
Mammals produce a particular enzyme that breaks down fat in the body.
Kosmiski is trying to develop a transgenic mouse model with a genetic flaw that overexpresses the enzyme and breaks down fat to an extreme. By creating a mouse that is extremely lean, Kosmiski hopes to gain insights into the body's regulation of fat metabolism. She follows with interest the work of other obesity researchers, such as the recent discovery of the obese gene , but believes a variety of research strategies is necessary. We're not going to find a magic bullet. She sometimes misses the fast pace and diversity of cases she saw as a full-time clinician but welcomes the freedom her fellowship has provided to explore metabolic research intensively.