Morten Lundh - Afadin, a novel putative regulator of insulin-mediated brown adipocyte biology

The number of people suffering from obesity and obesity-related disorders such as Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) is increasing worldwide. To break this escalation new therapeutic options are needed. Brown adipose tissue (BAT), also known as brown fat, possesses the ability to “burn” calories by uncoupling the oxidative phosphorylation pathway in the mitochondria.

The net result of this reaction is an increased metabolic rate, which is why approaches to generate and/or activate brown adipose tissue hold great promise for the treatment of obesity and T2DM. Intriguingly, within recent years it has been shown that human adults also possess BAT.

I am investigating the action of the protein Afadin in the regulation of BAT. The experiments involve in vitro studies in brown adipocyte cell lines and human primary cells (overexpression of mutants, mass spec, metabolic profiling) and two animal models. I hope that through a deeper understanding of the molecular signaling pathways in BAT, novel strategies to increase the activity of this tissue can be developed with the aim of treating obesity and obesity-related disorders such as T2DM.