Seminar Title: “Hindbrain regulation of food intake control”
PBB 129
Wednesday November 4, 2026, from 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Samantha M. Fortin, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Neuroscience at UConn Health. The Fortin Lab investigates how metabolic signals are integrated by neural circuits to regulate feeding, energy balance, autonomic physiology, and aspects of cognition. The lab focuses on hindbrain systems, particularly locus coeruleus norepinephrine neurons, and examines how signals such as GLP-1, amylin, insulin, glucose, and other metabolic factors alter neural function and behavior. The lab combines molecular, pharmacological, chemo genetic, optogenetic, and circuit-mapping approaches with behavioral and physiological measurements in rodent models. Ultimately, the work defines how the brain senses changes in metabolic state and coordinates adaptive behavioral and physiological responses, including how these mechanisms are altered by nutritional and environmental challenges.
She is a native of Connecticut and is very excited to be back in the Farmington Valley where she enjoys raising her two little girls, pottery, gardening, and visits from her neighborhood bears.
Education & Training
University of Illinois, Chicago
Ursinus College
For more information, contact: Reena Bokria at rjb07003@uconn.edu