When Hebrew University of Jerusalem medical student Hadar Israeli studied a family with multiple members suffering from severe obesity and plagued with constant hunger, she found that they all shared a common mutation affecting a specific receptor in the brain: Melanocortin Receptor 4, or MC4.
Though scientists have long known that the MC4 receptor was in some way connected to hunger and appetite, Israeli helped uncover just how instrumental it was in regulating our sensations of hunger and fullness.
