Monday the 4th of October 2021

Obesity strongly associates with many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.  A study from our group, published in Nature Medicine today, shows that mature human adipocytes can activate a cell cycle program in association with obesity and hyperinsulinemia. Whilst fat cells can activate the expression of specific cell cycle markers and synthesise new DNA, they do not divide and rather exist as larger cells with increased genomic content. This process, termed endoreplication, is a strategy used by both plants and animals when cells are required to increase significantly in size, but has not previously been shown for mature adipocytes. The ability of adipocytes to activate a cell cycle program and endoreplicate could confer a physiological advantage to a cell type that needs to undergo tremendous increases in size during development and weight gain, as adipocytes can increase in size more than 200-fold across their lifespan! We further show that in response to chronic hyperinsulinemia adipocytes can exit the cell cycle and senesce. Senescent adipocytes secrete factors known to be pro-inflammatory, potentially driving inflammation and pathology in human adipose tissue and impacting whole body health. Using drugs currently on the market for other purposes, we show that manipulating adipocyte cell cycle entry and progression enables one to influence the formation of senescent cells.  You can read the paper here.

Thursday the 9th of September 2021

One of the main techniques the Spalding lab has used the past years is radiocarbon dating. In short, this method uses 14C measurements to calculate the age of biological samples. Together with an international group of scientists, Kirsty Spalding has recently published a Nature Reviews Method Primer article about radiocarbon dating. In this article the technique is described, as well as its applications, considerations and future development. You can read the paper here.

Monday the 31st of May

Kirsty Spalding has recently been awarded a Blue Sky Grant for Innovative Cancer Research and Technology. This is a grant for "high risk - high reward" research within the cancer field. The research that is supported by this grant will investigate the connections between adipose tissue and cancer. A story (in Swedish) about this research line of the Spalding lab has been published by Radiumhemmets Forskningsfonder and can be read here. 

Friday the 22nd of January 2021

Despite the measures surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, Keng-Yeh Fu has successfully defended his PhD thesis and has been awarded the title of doctor. His thesis was called 'Investigating adipose tissue turnover in humans using radiocarbon dating'. The opponent during the defence was Prof. Karine Clément from the Sorbonne University Paris and his examination committee consisted of Prof. Rachel Fischer and Prof. Elisabet Stener-Victorin from Karolinska Institutet and Prof. emeritus Walter Kutschera from the University of Vienna.

Wednesday the 30th of September 2020

Kirsty Spalding has recently been awarded with a grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation totaling 31,000,000 SEK for five years. Together with Göran Possnert (Uppsala University) and Ulf Smith (Gothenburg University) our group will be studying the mechanisms behind premature senescence of adipocytes using this wonderful oppurtunity. The press release of the KAW Foundation can be read here. 

Updated on the 4th of May 2021

An  article (in Swedish) by the KAW Foundation zooming in on this research project can be found here. 

Sunday the 2nd of August 2020

In the Netflix series 'Connected' journalist Latif Nasser delves into the connections phenomenons such as clouds, digits and dust have with science in far-away fields. Amongst the different episodes is one that deals with nukes and it is precisely in this episode that work of the Spalding Lab can be seen. It is precisely the aftermath of nuclear bomb tests that are employed in the research we do to understand fat cell and lipid turnover. Can we suggest you boot up Netflix and watch episode 6 of 'Connected'? (Or if you're solely interested in our work, we suggest going to the 26:40 mark).

Wednesday the 16th of December 2019

In the fourth installment of the Medicinsk vetenskap magazine that is regularly published by Karolinska Institutet, Kirsty Spalding was interviewed by Cecilia Odlind. Here she goes into fat cell numbers, fat cell size, an unsolved murder case and living in a cave. Want to read more? The full interview can be found here.