IBRO is delighted to announce that the winner of the first ever Neuroscience People’s Choice Cover Competition is Dr. Carmelo Quarta, researcher at Neurocentre Magendie, Bordeaux Neurocampus – Université de Bordeaux, France.
- The winning cover was featured in Volume 447 on 1 November 2020 along with the article, ‘POMC Neurons Dysfunction in Diet-induced Metabolic Disease: Hallmark or Mechanism of Disease?‘ in our flagship journal Neuroscience.
Dr. Quarta explains the research behind the winning cover image:
Certain populations of neurons in the hypothalamus undergo dysfunctional activity while eating hypercaloric/high palatable diets. This creates a vicious cycle leading to increased hunger, excessive drive towards high palatable food, and systemic metabolic dysfunctions.
In this artwork created by Charlie Padgett, we show one of these hypothalamic neurons (the so-called POMC neurons) that participate to the unhealthy feeding behavior and altered metabolic responses in an obese subject. POMC neuronal dysfunction in obesity is represented as a transformation of the neuron that becomes a monster and pushes the subject to eat the unhealthy food.
IBRO and Elsevier have been delighted to recognize Dr. Carmelo Quarta and Charlie Padgett’s work in this cover competition and look forward to Dr. Quatra’s future research discoveries.
For the first IBRO Neuroscience People’s Choice Cover Competition the Publications Committee created a shortlist of three 2020 Neuroscience covers. The public was then asked to vote on their favorite cover on social media. Nearly 400 votes were cast.
Picture of Dr. Quarta (right) with his lab, which is directed by Dr. Cota (center)