News & Research

    UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas

Adipocyte birth, death and recruitment during chronic excess caloric intake

General Research Subject: Obesity

Focus: Adipocytes, Obesity\Animal Models, Signal Transduction (Non-Insulin Action)

Type of Grant: Mentor Based Postdoctoral Fellowship

Project Start Date: July 1, 2011

Project End Date: June 30, 2015

Research Description

Despite a fairly detailed understanding of the mechanistic aspects of fat cell differentiation, fundamental insights into the life cycle of fat cells in the intact organism are still missing. As we gain weight, how critical is the ability to recruit precursor cells? Where do the mature fat cells appear that derive from these newly differentiated precursor cells. Do they appear in clusters, in the periphery of the existing fat pads, or are they randomly interspersed among the pre-existing fat cells? Are these new fat cells physiologically different from the pre-existing 'old' fat cells? Furthermore, what provides fat cells with their remarkable longevity, protecting them from cell death over prolonged periods of time? Using completely new genetic tools that the Scherer lab generated over the past several years, answers for these questions can be obtained that could not be approached previously. By employing a systematic comparison of cell death across multiple different cell types, common as well as unique mechanisms that protect fat cells from cell death will be identified. Pre-existing precursor and mature fat cell populations can be labeled for the first time and thereby permanently be tagged, allowing us to track the progenitor cells from the precursors and to differentiate 'old' from 'new' fat cells.

Combined, these studies bear significant potential towards contributing a better understanding of how our fat pads change with age and weight gain, and in the process change our susceptibility to diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

Research Profile

Mentor: Scherer, Philipp, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow: Wang, Qiong

What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?

Despite a fairly detailed understanding of the mechanistic aspects of fat cell differentiation, fundamental insights into the life cycle of fat cells in the intact organism are still missing. As we gain weight, how critical is the ability to recruit precursor cells? Where do the mature fat cells appear that derive from these newly differentiated precursor cells. Do they appear in clusters, in the periphery of the existing fat pads, or are they randomly interspersed among the pre-existing fat cells? Are these new fat cells physiologically different from the pre-existing 'old' fat cells? Furthermore, what provides fat cells with their remarkable longevity, protecting them from cell death over prolonged periods of time? Using completely new genetic tools that we generated over the past several years, answers for these questions can be obtained that could not be approached previously. By employing a systematic comparison of cell death across multiple different cell types, common as well as unique mechanisms that protect fat cells from cell death will be identified. Pre-existing precursor and mature fat cell populations can be labeled for the first time and thereby permanently be tagged, allowing us to track the progenitor cells from the precursors and to differentiate 'old' from 'new' fat cells.

Combined, these studies bear significant potential towards contributing a better understanding of how our fat pads change with age and weight gain, and in the process change our susceptibility to diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?

Our fat cells play a very important role for our metabolic well-being. We need to know how and where they develop when we gain weight. We can answer these questions for the first time using genetic manipulations of the mouse. I have been involved in diabetes research for more than 20 years now. It is a privilege for me to work on these questions and help find how to alleviate the negative consequences of adipose tissue dysfunction. Beyond enabling me to direct an exciting research effort, this award also helps me to get an extremely promising young scientist involved in diabetes research.

Why is it important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research?

I have been involved in diabetes research for more than 20 years now. It is a privilege for me to work on these questions and help find how to alleviate the negative consequences of adipose tissue dysfunction. Beyond enabling me to direct an exciting research effort, this award also helps me to get an extremely promising young scientist involved in diabetes research.

In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?

As a member of the NIH/NIDDK Strategic Planning Committee for Diabetes Research in 2010, we have outlined a significant number of areas that we will need to devote time and resources to in future diabetes research. In the context of this proposal, we need to find out what causes a 'healthy' fat expansion versus an 'unhealthy' fat expansion that prompts the negative associations with insulin sensitivity.