Researching how fat cells impact disease in humans
Our fat cells not only store energy, they are also involved in many physiological processes. Kirsty Spalding researches how dysfunctional fat cells impact health and disease in humans. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet
What are you researching?
“We’re investigating how obesity-associated changes in fat cell, or adipocyte, function impact health and disease in humans. Fat cells are more than just sites for the storage and release of energy; they also have important roles in metabolism, immunity and reproduction. Obesity associated diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer are rising sharply and there is a strong need to better understand the mechanisms driving these diseases and develop novel treatment strategies which take into account the obesity component.”
How are you going about this?
“We isolate fat cells from fat biopsies and use a variety of analytical methods to determine fat cell turnover and function. We analyse samples from different patient groups – lean individuals, people with obesity and people with pre diabetes, diabetes and cancer – so as to better understand fat cell functioning in health and in disease.”
How do you hope that your results will be used?
“By identifying fat cell dysfunction and how it contributes to disease, we hope to offer new treatment avenues that target these cells. For example, we recently identified that fat cells can enter senescence, a prematurely aged state where they secrete factors that promote inflammation and tissue dysfunction. With a better understanding of the mechanisms driving senescence, we hope to prevent fat cells from entering this state.”
About Kirsty Spalding
Professor of Adipocyte Biology at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
Kirsty Spalding was born in 1972 in Perth, Australia. On earning her PhD in neuroscience at the University of Western Australia in 2003, she went on to pursue her postdoc studies at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) at Karolinska Institutet. After four years as a principal investigator at the Integrated Cardio Metabolic Centre research centre at Karolinska Institutet/Astra Zeneca, she returned to CMB in 2019. Kirsty Spalding was appointed Professor of Adipocyte Biology at Karolinska Institutet on 9 October 2023.