Brian Parks

Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences

Gene-diet interactions, obesity, diabetes, and systems genetics

Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences
B.S. 2002, University of Virginia’s College at Wise
Ph.D. 2008, University of Alabama, Birmingham

CLCC1 promotes hepatic neutral lipid flux and nuclear pore complex assembly

Alyssa J Mathiowetz, Emily S Meymand, Güneş Parlakgül, Niek van Hilten, Emily F Torres, Leonardo L Artico, Kirandeep K Deol, Mike Lange, Stephany P Pang, Cody E Doubravsky, Melissa A Roberts, Danielle M Jorgens, Reena Zalpuri, Misun Kang, Casadora Boone, Brian W Parks, Yaohuan Zhang, David W Morgens, Emily Tso Newman, Yingjiang Zhou, Saswata Talukdar, Michael Grabe, Gregory Ku, Tim P Levine, Ana Paula Arruda, James A Olzmann

Nature. 2026 February 25. pmid:41741636, pmc:PMC13061601, doi:10.1038/s41586-025-10064-4
GPR41 deficiency alters the gut microbiota-bile acid axis, reduces ileal expression of Npc1l1, and attenuates hypercholesterolemia in male mice

Evan R Hutchison, Jillella Mallikarjun, Jung Ha Byun, Lauren N Lucas, Kazuyuki Kasahara, Michael Tallon, Qijun Zhang, Daniel Amador-Noguez, Yongjun Liu, Vanessa A Leone, Brian W Parks, Federico E Rey

Gut microbes. 2025 December 15. pmid:41395766, pmc:PMC12710913, doi:10.1080/19490976.2025.2598957
Muscle metabolic resilience and enhanced exercise adaptation by Esr1-induced remodeling of mitochondrial cristae-nucleoid architecture in males

Zhenqi Zhou, Timothy M Moore, Alexander R Strumwasser, Vicent Ribas, Hirotaka Iwasaki, Noelle Morrow, Alice Ma, Peter H Tran, Jonathan Wanagat, Thomas Q de Aguiar Vallim, Bethan Clifford, Zhengyi Zhang, Tamer Sallam, Brian W Parks, Karen Reue, Orian Shirihai, Rebeca Acin-Perez, Marco Morselli, Matteo Pellegrini, Sushil K Mahata, Frode Norheim, Mingqi Zhou, Marcus M Seldin, Aldons J Lusis, Cathy C Lee, Mark O Goodarzi, Jerome I Rotter, Joshua R Hansen, Ben Drucker, Tyler J Sagendorf, Joshua N Adkins, James A Sanford, Francesco J DeMayo, Sylvia C Hewitt, Kenneth S Korach, Andrea L Hevener

Cell reports. Medicine. 2025 May 6. pmid:40328250, pmc:PMC12147913, doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102116
Physiological consequences of Aldolase C deficiency during lactation

James A Votava, Jing Fan, Brian W Parks

PloS one. 2024 December 12. pmid:39666708, pmc:PMC11637398, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0315719
Liver-specific deletion of Agpat5 protects against liquid sucrose-induced hyperinsulinemia and glucose intolerance

Sylwia Michorowska, Kara R Vogel, Raghav Jain, Samantha L St Clair, Judith A Simcox, Brian W Parks

Biochemical and biophysical research communications. 2024 November 28. pmid:39608054, pmc:PMC11702855, doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2024.151059
Mining cholesterol genes from thousands of mouse livers identifies aldolase C as a regulator of cholesterol biosynthesis

James A Votava, Steven V John, Zhonggang Li, Shuyang Chen, Jing Fan, Brian W Parks

Journal of lipid research. 2024 February 28. pmid:38417553, pmc:PMC10965479, doi:10.1016/j.jlr.2024.100525
Lipidomic QTL in Diversity Outbred mice identifies a novel function for α/β hydrolase domain 2 (Abhd2) as an enzyme that metabolizes phosphatidylcholine and cardiolipin

Tara R Price, Donnie S Stapleton, Kathryn L Schueler, Marie K Norris, Brian W Parks, Brian S Yandell, Gary A Churchill, William L Holland, Mark P Keller, Alan D Attie

PLoS genetics. 2023 July 31. pmid:37523383, pmc:PMC10414554, doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010713
Lipidomic QTL in Diversity Outbred mice identifies a novel function for α/β hydrolase domain 2 ( Abhd2 ) as an enzyme that metabolizes phosphatidylcholine and cardiolipin

Tara R Price, Donnie S Stapleton, Kathryn L Schueler, Marie K Norris, Brian W Parks, Brian S Yandell, Gary A Churchill, William L Holland, Mark P Keller, Alan D Attie

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2023 March 30. pmid:36993241, pmc:PMC10055419, doi:10.1101/2023.03.23.533902
“Humanizing” mouse environments: Humidity, diurnal cycles and thermoneutrality

Ildiko Kasza, Colleen Cuncannan, Julian Michaud, Dave Nelson, Chi-Liang E Yen, Raghav Jain, Judi Simcox, Ormond A MacDougald, Brian W Parks, Caroline M Alexander

Biochimie. 2022 November 13. pmid:36372307, pmc:PMC10172392, doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2022.10.015
Pcpe2, a Novel Extracellular Matrix Protein, Regulates Adipocyte SR-BI-Mediated High-Density Lipoprotein Uptake

Hao Xu, Michael J Thomas, Sushma Kaul, Rachel Kallinger, Amber B Ouweneel, Elisa Maruko, Sabrina M Oussaada, Aldo Jongejan, Huib A Cense, Max Nieuwdorp, Mireille J Serlie, Ira J Goldberg, Mete Civelek, Brian W Parks, Aldons J Lusis, Darcy Knaack, Rebecca L Schill, Sarah C May, John J Reho, Justin L Grobe, Benjamin Gantner, Daisy Sahoo, Mary G Sorci-Thomas

Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology. 2021 September 23. pmid:34551590, pmc:PMC8551036, doi:10.1161/ATVBAHA.121.316615

The Parks Lab is focused on addressing the question of how genetics and diet interact together to contribute to common metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. Through the use of large-scale integrative genetic studies in the mouse we have identified several candidate genes that mediate gene-diet interactions. Current work is focused on a novel candidate drug target, Agpat5, which improves common symptoms of obesity and diabetes. In addition to this work we have a strong interest in the development of systems genetics approaches for dissecting biological pathways and networks.