To assist in the discovery and development of therapies for obesity and type II diabetes, we are developing a mathematical model integrating the intake, digestion, storage, and expenditure of macronutrients. While there has been a considerable amount of research done at the component level (e.g., *-cell secretion of insulin, action potentials and release of neurotransmitters, up- and down-regulation of receptors), very little work has been done to integrate the different physiological systems involved in obesity. One obvious reason for this is the amount of complexity involved at many different levels, ranging from intracellular pathways to whole tissue and organ behavior. We are addressing this issue by having a multi-disciplinary team of life scientists, engineers, and experts from academia and industry build the model using a top-down approach. Current analyses from the model will be presented and capabilities and limitations of the model will be discussed.

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1998-1999 Mathematics in Biology