Signaling Pathways in the Functions of Adipocytes in the Emanuelli Group
The Emanuelli Group investigates the complex nature of the signalling involved in the endocrine control of metabolic functions, with a special focus on defining the signals and signalling pathways that orchestrate the functions of adipocytes in metabolic homeostasis and disease.
The adipose tissue is critically contributing to the regulation of energy homeostasis through energy storing/burning capacities, and via endocrine signaling.
Combining high throughput and unbiased approaches, with functional interrogation via CRISPR-mediated gene editing and manipulation in cells and animals, the focus of the Emanuelli Group is to decipher the molecular mechanisms controlling the functions of white, brown and beige fat cells in health and disease.
Brice Emanuelli explains: “Recognizing the factors optimizing or dysregulating the adipose metabolic and adaptive processes holds promise to open novel strategies to halt obesity and associated metabolic disorders.”
“Afadin is a scaffold protein repressing insulin action via HDAC6 in adipose tissue”
Published in EMBO Reports in 2019 this study shows that the scaffold protein Afadin dampens insulin action in adipocytes and impairs adipose tissue function by a negative feedback mechanism involving Afadin phosphorylation, recruitment of HDAC6 and suppression of the insulin signaling pathway.
“Distinct signalling properties of insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 and IRS-2 in mediating insulin/IGF-1 action”
In this study published in Cellular Signalling in 2018 we used phosphoproteomic analysis to reveal novel elements of the insulin/IGF-1 signalling pathway. The study reveals both common and distinct insulin/IGF-1 signalling events mediated by specific IRS proteins.
“White adipose remodeling during browning in mice involves YBX1 to drive thermogenic commitment”
In this work published in Molecular Metabolism in 2021, we delineated the temporal proteomic changes occurring during the cold-stimulated browning of white adipose tissue in mice. We found that a core of transcriptional regulators was acutely induced. Among those, our findings further revealed the role of the cold-shock domain containing protein YBX1 as a novel factor impacting the adipogenic fate toward the thermogenic lineage.
Funding sources for our group include the Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Danish Diabetes Academy, the Copenhagen Bioscience PhD Programme and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes.
Group members
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agueda Oyarzabal, Marina | PhD Student | +4535336279 | |
| Bossi, Simone | Postdoc | ||
| Brown, Erin Louise | Postdoc | +4535332587 | |
| Fitzner, Emil | Master Student | ||
| Isidor, Marie Sophie Lykke | Postdoc | +4535336550 | |
| Petersen, Patricia S. S. | Academic Staff | +4535330226 | |
| Plucinska, Kaja | International Researcher | +4535334918 | |
| Rupar, Kaja | PhD Student | +4535326255 | |
| Tandio, David | PhD Fellow | +4535336954 | |
| Tozzi, Marco | Postdoc | +4535334725 |
From the left: Morten Dall, Kaja Plucinska, Brice Emanuelli, Erin Louise Brown, Kaja Rupar and Marie Sophie Lykke Isidor.