Ping Chen receives grant from Novo Nordisk Foundation for research on fatty liver disease
Dr. Ping Chen at the Department of Laboratory Medicine receives a project grant for her research in endocrinology and metabolism from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The grant may contribute to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease over time in people living with the fatty liver disease MASLD.
The grant is of nearly SEK 4.3 million for the project “System-level analysis of immune and RNA splicing regulation in liver endothelial dysfunction during MASLD progression,” which focuses on how the liver is affected by fatty liver disease.
"This grant means a lot to me. I want to explore an unexplored aspect of how RNA splicing affects the body—especially in a condition called MASLD, where fat builds up in the liver and can progress to more serious stages. With this support, I can move beyond just observing and instead map out exactly how this process changes cellular functions in the liver as the disease advances," says Ping Chen, senior researcher at the Department of Laboratory Medicine. "It also gives me the freedom to develop new digital tools that turn big data into biomedical insights which can benefit patients. Most importantly, this work pushes forward a goal that’s close to my heart: identifying early warning signs and new treatment targets that can reduce cardiovascular risk for people living with MASLD."
There are already plans what the money will be used for.
"New team members with strong computational skills will be recruited to develop robust computational tools and perform integrated study central to this project. The grant will also enable collection of advanced biological data and testing of findings in pre-models.”