My lab uses broiler chicks as a dual-purpose animal model that addresses both efficiency in broiler production and mechanisms of early life obesity in children. Modern broilers are incredibly efficient, but they still accumulate more fat than is physiologically necessary due to inadvertent consequences of selection for rapid growth. Even a modest misallocation of feed, the most expensive component of production, is a significant economic concern for the industry due to the scale of broiler production in the U.S. This waste will become even more significant as broiler production increases to meet the protein demands of a surging global population (fao.org). For very different reasons, accretion of excess adipose tissue early in life is a critical concern for humans. Approximately 27% of children in the U.S. (and more than 30% in Tennessee), are overweight or obese by age five (cdc.gov), making them approximately five times more likely to be obese as adults. Obesity significantly increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and myriad other co-morbid conditions that impose profound health, economic, and societal costs. Finding new ways to intervene and disrupt the trajectory toward early life obesity is a critical need for Tennessee, the U.S. and the growing list of other countries in which obesity is becoming epidemic. Research in my lab integrates ‘omics, nutrition, and physiology to identify control points in the molecular pathways that control adipose development, and how they can be manipulated through the early life diet to prevent excess fat deposition in both chicks and children.