Patrick R. Sweeney

Patrick R. Sweeney is an Assistant Professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on neural circuit mechanisms linking energy homeostasis, emotion, and reproduction, particularly through the central melanocortin system. He holds a B.A. from the University of Rochester (2012), a Ph.D. from SUNY Upstate Medical University (2017), and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan (2017–2021). His lab employs optogenetics, calcium imaging, and molecular genetics to study how melanocortin receptors (MC3R/MC4R) regulate feeding, anxiety, and metabolic disorders like anorexia nervosa and obesity.

Research Interests: Endocrinology, metabolic regulation, neurobiology, neural circuitry, optogenetics, and reproductive biology. His lab investigates how POMC/AgRP neurons communicate metabolic signals to secondary brain regions, with a focus on how dysfunction in these circuits contributes to metabolic and psychiatric disorders.

Recent Work: Recent studies explore MC3R signaling in energy rheostasis, stress-feeding interactions, and lactation-associated hyperphagia. His work has implications for developing therapies targeting melanocortin pathways in obesity and anorexia.

• Key Techniques: Inscopix miniscope imaging, optogenetics, light-sheet imaging, single-cell RNA sequencing.
• Labs/Teams: Sweeney Lab focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to neural circuitry and metabolic disorders.