Administrative and Professional Development Core (L. Liaw, Core Director) The Administrative and Professional Development Core is led by Lucy Liaw PhD, the PD/PI of this COBRE program at MaineHealth. She will continue leadership of this successful program, which has flourished via steady and dedicated management and mentorship, robust institutional support, targeted recruitment of external investigators, and improvement of state-of-the-art scientific core facilities. In Phase I of this program, all of the four initial junior project leads received NIH R01/R37 independent funding, and we have recruited three additional junior investigator project leads to our program. Our core facilities continue to be in high demand from our COBRE group and external investigators, and we have made instrumentation improvements and developed new technologies based on user needs. In Phase II, we will be adding an additional junior investigator project to our two newly initiated external recruits. This renewal proposes support for three junior investigator projects focused on thermogenic adipocytes and systemic metabolism, the gut-bone axis following bariatric surgery, and the impact of night shift work of pregnant women on pre-gestational diabetes and chronic diabetes risk. The goals of this Phase II COBRE program are to foster and support scientific productivity and collaboration, enhance and coordinate our research infrastructure, seek out and expand scientific expertise, and actively oversee and monitor a professional development program. To accomplish these goals, this Administrative and Professional Development Core will provide the organizational framework and leadership to facilitate and encourage success. We are continuing support of three highly successful scientific core facilities in the areas of Physiology, Histopathology and Microscopy, and Proteomics and Lipidomics. Our administrative infrastructure relies on a robust mentoring network, with project leads engaging at least two mentors for quarterly meetings and feedback. In addition, regular monthly COBRE team meetings, quarterly Clinical Partners meetings, and twice annual Advisory Committee meetings round out our formal research progress framework. The aims of this Administrative Core are to provide the research administrative and organizational support to meet the goals of the overall program, which are: 1) Provide leadership to evolve a robust Center infrastructure including administrative, fiscal and scientific management to support growth of collaborative research and resources in metabolic health and disease, 2) Support career advancement for COBRE investigators and alumni, 3) Maintain high quality shared scientific resources, and 4) Accomplish these goals while building a diverse research community that is guided by principles of inclusion and equity.