Dr. Melissa Chee grew up in Edmonton, Alberta and earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Alberta. She moved to Boston to complete postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, where she was also a research instructor before joining Carleton. Her current interests are lab plants, snacks, and neuron art.
Eligible to supervise at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Currently taking volunteers.
We are always interested in exceptional, highly motivated and articulate new lab members.
The overall premise of the work done in the Chee Lab is that the brain is a key organ in obesity. Their research examines the internal and external factors that influence the brain in obesity.
Negishi K, Payant MA, Schumacker KS, Wittmann G, Butler RM, Lechan RM, Steinbusch HWM, Khan AM, Chee MJ (2020) Distributions of hypothalamic neuron populations coexpressing tyrosine hydroxylase and the vesicular GABA transporter in the mouse. J Comp Neurol doi:10.1002/cne.24857—In press.
Chee MJ, Hebert AJ, Braincon N, Flaherty SE, Pissios P, Maratos-Flier E (2019) Conditional deletion of melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1 from GABAergic neurons increases locomotor activity. Mol Metab 29:114—123.
Chee MJ, Arrigoni E, Maratos-Flier E. 2015. Melanin-concentrating hormone neurons release glutamate for feedforward inhibition of the lateral septum. J Neurosci 35:3644-51.
Chee MJ, Pissios P, Maratos-Flier E. 2013. Neurochemical characterization of neurons expressing melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1 in the mouse hypothalamus. J Comp Neurol 521:2208-2234.
Douris N, Stevanovic D, Fisher FM, Cisu T, Chee MJ, Ngyuen NL, Zarebidaki E, Adams AC, Kharitonenkov A, Flier JS, Bartness TJ, Maratos-Flier E (2015) Central fibroblast growth factor 21 browns white fat via sympathetic action in male mice. Endocrinology 156:2470—2481.