Mechanisms of obesity-induced adipose tissue inflammation
Keywords
Obesity, adipose tissue, inflammation, macrophages, adipokines, osteopontin, insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, cardiometabolic disease, animal models, signal transduction
Research interest of the Faculty Member
Dr. Stulnig is interested in molecular mechanisms underlying interactions of lipid metabolism and immune function. In recent years he has put particular emphasis on molecular mechanisms underlying obesity-associated adipose tissue inflammation that crucially contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes development. Macrophage and T cell phenotypes have been intensively studied. More recently, Dr. Stulnig has extended his interest to inflammatory mechanisms common to metabolic (diabetes) and cardiovascular disease due to shared risk factors comprising the "metabolic syndrome". Dr. Stulnig has made important contributions to the field and has been invited to speak at international conferences. Dr. Stulnig’s lab applies a wide variety of lipid and protein biochemical as well as molecular biology approaches including studies in mice and humans.
Collaborating research groups where PhD Students could perform their research stay
Susanne Neschen, Institute for Experimental Genetics, Helmhotz-Zentrum München (HMGU), Munich, Germany
Jens Brüning, Department of Mouse Genetics and Metabolism, Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Rudolf Zechner, Institute for Molecular Biosciences, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
Know-how and infrastructure of the research group
Animal models of obesity and atherosclerosis, metabolic testing in vivo, adipocyte differentiation, macrophages, signal transduction, lipid biochemistry by GC-MS (fatty acid profiles etc.), protein biochemistry, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR and other standard molecular biology techniques.