Ceramides are increasingly being recognized as universal regulators of biological stress responses, and have been found to accumulate in individuals that display obesity and insulin resistance. Once ceramide levels rise above a critical threshold, tissues become insulin resistant and thus compromises nutrient uptake and storage. Prevention of ceramide accumulation in rodents improves insulin sensitivity and prevents the onset of metabolic disorders including diabetes, steatohepatitis and atherosclerosis.
We are interested in understanding how increased caloric intake in mammals affects the activities of metabolic pathways leading to increased de novo ceramide synthesis, which consequently perturbs central metabolic pathways. Using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, flux analyses, biochemical and computational techniques we study how obesogenic diets affects signaling mechanisms and molecular networks, central to maintaining cellular lipid homeostasis.
These insights will have implications for our general understanding of fundamental biochemical processes and for development of novel therapeutic strategies in obesity and diabetes.
Relevant publications
LC-MS Analysis of central Lipid Species in Skeletal Muscle Cells and Tissue
Moreno-Torres, M., Havelund, J. and Færgeman, N. J. (2018)
Methods in Molecular Biology vol 1889 - Myogenesis (213-228)