Shannon Harlan, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Kamal Rahmouni, was awarded the best poster award at the University of Iowa Postdoctoral Association (UIPDA) Research Day. The title of the poster was “The Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus Mediates Leptin-Induced Sympathetic Activation”. Using viral gene transfer, Dr. Harlan identified the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus as a key site for the detrimental renal and arterial pressure effects of leptin, a hormone implicated in obesity-associated hypertension. Moreover, the development of a mouse model in which the leptin receptor was specifically deleted from Pomc neurons of the arcuate nucleus allowed the identification of the importance of these Pomc neurons in mediating the deleterious renal sympathetic effects of leptin.