Originally from Australia, I completed my PhD in the field of neuroscience at the University of Western Australia. This was followed by postdoctoral studies at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, where I switched from studying neuronal cell death to neuronal birth. During the later stages of my postdoctoral period I started a side project looking at fat cell turnover in human adipose tissue. This project developed in to several more projects and now the major interest of my research group is fat and the healthy and pathological function of mature human fat cells.

Contact: kirsty.spalding@ki.se 

I have a Bachelor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at KI. I have been working in the Spalding group as a lab manager since 2012. Between 1993 and 2012 I was working as a research scientist at AstraZeneca R&D, CNS and Pain. I have 3 years experience at a Clinical Immunology lab at Huddinge hospital as a laboratory technician. I have many administrative tasks in the group, but also contribute to various scientific project. 

Contact: lena.appelsved@ki.se 

After completing my PhD in Paris about blood interactions with biomaterials, I have worked in different institutes (Harvard, KTH) in the field of tissue engineering and proteomics. Before joining the group in August 2024, I worked at Uppsala University in the division of Biomedical Engineering, focusing on microfluidics and organ on chips. My current interest in the group is applying different imaging techniques to explore the biology of adipose tissue."

Contact: laurent.barbe@ki.se 

I completed my PhD in epigenetics in Hong Kong. I am interested in adipocyte senescence and the potential epigenetic mechanisms governing the process.  

Contact: esther.wan@ki.se 

After two years of delving into stem cell-derived pancreatic cells as an Institutional Fellow at Harvard University, my focus has shifted to insulin signaling in adipose tissue.

Contact: benjamin.dedic@ki.se 

I have a master’s degree in molecular biology from Stockholm university and am currently working as a research assistant in Kirsty Spalding’s group. I previously did my thesis project here wherein I tried to understand why adipocytes in the omental depot have lower levels of senescence than adipocytes in the subcutaneous depot, within the same individual. I now continue this work as a doctoral student.

Contact: leo.westerberg@ki.se 

After completing a master’s degree in medical epigenomics at the Radboud University, I am currently working as a doctoral student in Kirsty’s group. My main project falls into two parts: 1) mapping the amount of brown fat in adult humans using stereology and 2) understanding the browning potential of white fat cells using an array of molecular biology tools. I am also involved in the sequencing projects of the lab doing computational analyses. In addition, I often supervise students and am involved in student representation at several levels of Karolinska Institutet.

Contact: niels.kramer@ki.se 

In the summer of 2024, I graduated with a Master's degree in Translational Physiology and Pharmacology from Karolinska Institutet. Since then, I have joined Kirsty Spalding's group as a research assistant, where I am excited to be working with primary adipocytes. I believe that working with primary human tissue will allow us to fill many of the knowledge gaps we currently have to improve human health.