Karin Stenkula, Hjelt Grant Holder 2026, University of Lund. Studies of fat cells can help increase the knowledge of how weight loss treatments affect individuals with obesity. But fat cells are difficult to study because they are fragile and prone to break easily. Diabetes researcher Karin Stenkula receives a new grant for a project which will use new technique to study how fat cells are affected in connection with weight loss. Diabetes researcher Karin Stenkula leads a research group that studies molecular mechanisms regulating the function of fat cells. Studies of fat cells can help increase the understanding of the development of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. Both diseases are characterised by insulin resistance, which means a reduced ability of the hormone insulin to lower blood sugar levels. When the body's cells function normally and are sensitive to insulin, the fat cells can store excess energy as fat. In connection with insulin resistance, the cells' ability to store energy is impaired. “We store excess energy both in the subcutaneous fat just under the skin and in the visceral fat. The visceral fat is located around the internal organs, and when too much fat is stored there, the risk of diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes will increase. In the current project, we are investigating what happens to certain types of fat cells in individuals with obesity undergoing weight loss treatment,” says Karin Stenkula, research group leader at Lund University Diabetes Centre. Subgroups of fat cells Previous research within the area has identified various subgroups of fat cells based on their different gene expression. Karin Stenkula's research group have selected five of these subgroups of fat cells for further investigation within the new project. The research group’s project now receives a grant of almost half a million SEK from Hjelt Diabetes Foundation. The study will be conducted on about 30 participants with obesity who are undergoing different types of weight loss treatments. Some of the participants will receive treatment through weight management programmes, which will involve healthy eating advice and new exercise habits. Other participants are receiving GLP-1 medicines which have been approved for weight loss. Individuals who will undergo weight loss surgery can also participate in the study. Adipose tissue samples and clinical data are gathered before and for a few years after initiation of weight loss treatment for further analysis. The research team will investigate whether previous findings made at gene level in subgroups of fat cells can be confirmed at protein level, and whether there are associations to the cell’s insulin sensitivity. “It will be very interesting to make comparisons between participants who receive different types of weight loss treatment. We would, for example, like to investigate what happens to the participants’ fat cells before and after treatment and whether there are differences between different groups of participants. This knowledge can be important for providing individualised weight loss treatment,” says Karin Stenkula. New platform for images analysis If it turns out that certain types of fat cells have better insulin sensitivity than others, it may be possible to develop new treatments for obesity in the future. One therapeutic strategy may be to increase the number of fat cells of a certain type to improve insulin sensitivity. “I hope that the study will give us new knowledge about why the body’s ability to store fat is impaired and if we can do anything about it. If we can improve the body's ability to store fat, it may also be possible to prevent diseases such as type 2 diabetes.” Karin Stenkula's research group has established a collaboration with a company that specialises in smart microscopy and AI-tools for image analysis. Through a data-driven platform, the researchers can make detailed analyses of adipose tissue samples and fat cells. The new grant from Hjelt Diabetes Foundation creates conditions for the recruitment of a doctoral student who will focus on the development of software and data collection for the image analyses. “A major challenge in studying fat cells is that they float, are fragile, and prone to break. We hope that we will get a detailed picture of the fat cells through our new platform for image analysis,” says Karin Stenkula. Contact Karin Stenkula, research group leader at Lund University Diabetes Centre and the strategic research area EXODIAB karin.stenkula@med.lu.se Karin Stenkula's profile in Lund University's research portal https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/karin-stenkula/

Giorgia Katsioudi, Hjelt Grant Holder 2026, University of Geneva. Disruptions in our circadian rhythms, the internal biological clocks that regulate vital metabolic processes are linked to T2D pathogenesis. Peripheral clocks are located in almost all organs of the human body, including the pancreas that regulates the rhythmic secretion of insulin. Modern stressors like chronic shift work, irregular sleep patterns, or jet lag, cause a chronic hormonal misalignment, which significantly elevates the risk of developing metabolic diseases.

Monika Gjorgijeva Ducros, Hjelt Grant Holder 2025, University of Geneva. Background Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a serious complication of diabetes characterized by progressive renal dysfunction due to chronic hyperglycemia. AI showed upregulation of endoplasmic reticulum metallopeptidase 1 (ERMP1), a mediator of ER stress, in renal samples from patients with DKD. Collectively, the data suggest a protective role for ERMP1 in DKD. We aim to elucidate the interplay between renal cells with or without ERMP1 in vivo. We will use kidney-specific ERMP1 knockout mice fed either standard diet or a diabetogenic diet to induce DKD. Around 403.000 patients per year are diagnosed with renal carcinomas worldwide. Renal carcinomas are promoted by several factors such as obesity/diabetes, chronic kidney disease, smoking, toxin exposure, genetic predispositions and high blood pressure. This diverse array of risk factors leads to very strong differences in terms of tumor morphology, mutational profile and metabolic status and testifies for the need to deepen our understanding of the pathological processes involved in this disease in order to develop novel therapeutic approaches to fight renal cancer. Dr Gjorgjieva’s research aims therefore at deciphering the different molecular mechanisms involved in the incidence and progression of renal cancer . She is working on the development of an in vivo model of renal carcinoma that better mimics the pathology observed in humans and might open new therapeutic avenues.