New thesis deepens our understanding of how adipose tissue works

What is the main focus of your thesis?

Obesity affects more than a billion people worldwide and raises the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. White fat tissue, also known as white adipose tissue (WAT), plays a central role in these complications. In my thesis, I set out to create a detailed "cellular map” of human WAT at single-cell resolution. We examined not only fat-storing cells (adipocytes) but also other cell types, such as immune cells and progenitor cells, to understand how they differ between fat depots, how they interact with each other, and how their proportions change in healthy versus metabolically diseased states.  

Which are the most important results?

Our studies revealed three distinct subtypes of adipocytes, each with unique gene expression patterns and clear links to metabolic function and health. In our analyses, we used spatial transcriptomics, a cutting-edge method especially well-suited for uncovering adipocyte diversity directly within tissue biopsies. This approach not only revealed the differences between fat cell types but also allowed us to pinpoint exactly where these cells are located in the tissue. 

We showed that WAT from different body regions displayed striking differences in cell composition and inflammatory levels. Furthermore, specific cell subtypes, such as adipose progenitor cells, shifted noticeably in obesity, showing a distinct correlation with metabolic parameters such as insulin resistance. By revealing this complexity, we gained a deeper understanding of how fat tissue contributes to metabolic diseases. 

How can this new knowledge contribute to the improvement of people’s health?

The distribution and cellular composition of WAT, which vary markedly among individuals and anatomical depots, are critical determinants of metabolic health. By observing exactly how the tissue is organized, how cells communicate within the tissue, and how transitions between cell states occur, we can better understand how obesity, chronic inflammation, and adipose dysfunction contribute to systemic effects and facilitate disease progression. In the future, it could enable the stratification of patients based on their adipose tissue cellular profile, leading to the development of more precise and effective methods for preventing and treating obesity-related diseases. 

What are your future ambitions? 

I am very interested in applying spatial transcriptomics and other modern high-resolution methods to study how disease progression unfolds within tissue, especially with respect to cellular crosstalk in chronic inflammation and upon different pharmacological treatments.

Dissertation

Friday, 26 September at 09:30, Gene in Neo, Blickagången 16, Flemingsberg.

Thesis

Unveiling human white adipose tissue diversity at single-cell resolution