Recruited fellows to the SRP Diabetes Fellowship Program

Dr Gizem Korkut

I studied molecular biology and genetics at Bilkent University, Turkey and completed my MSc at Umeå University (Sweden) where I wrote a master’s thesis on cellular immunity in D. melanogaster. I did my PhD in Uppsala University in which I explored innate immunity using freshwater crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus as a model organism, with an emphasis on the infection pathways of the white spot syndrome virus. I defended my thesis in 2018. In 2019, I started a postdoc project focusing on molecular profiling of renal glomerular tissue using single cell transcriptomics, with an aim of discovering molecular pathways driving the progression of chronic kidney disease.

In October 2021, I started my SRP Diabetes Postdoctroal Fellowship project at Karolinska Institutet in a project led by Prof Jaakko Patrakka, with a focus on exploring molecular mechanisms of reno-protective drugs in diabetic nephropathy. In the project, we apply single cell sequencing to clinical and experimental material to identify targets of currently used reno-protective drugs. We hope to discover biomarkers for drug responses and identify novel therapeutical targets for diabetic nephropathy.

Project title: Identification of reno-protective molecular signatures in diabetic nephropathy using single cell transcriptomics. 

Dr Stine Marie Praestholm

I studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Southern Denmark and obtained my PhD in April 2021. In my research, I have focused on transcriptional regulation mediated by nuclear receptors: the thyroid hormone receptor and the glucocorticoid receptor, in mouse liver. Specifically, I have investigated enhancers regulated by the thyroid hormone receptor identifying different types of enhancers differential bound by coregulators. Most recently, I studied the role of the glucocorticoid receptor in regulating hepatic gene transcription in the transition from fasting to feeding in a circadian context.

In October 2021, I will start my SRP Diabetes Postdoctoral Fellowship at Karolinska Institutet under the supervision of Professor Jorge Ruas at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. In our project we will investigate how a protein, newly discovered to be a major regulator of inflammation, extracellular matrix remodeling and fibrogenesis, called TRAIN, promotes NAFLD/NASH and elucidate the molecular mechanism. Moreover, we will evaluate the TRAIN-driven secretome to identify diagnostic tools for NAFLD/NASH and investigate TRAIN levels and candidate biomarkers in NAFLD/NASH patient samples. The findings of this project could potentially form a basis of a new class of pharmacological therapies for NASH.

Project title: TRAIN, a novel target in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Dr Maxence Jollet

I am an exercise physiologist specialized in skeletal muscle tissue. I graduated my Bachelor and Master degrees in Faculty of Sport Sciences from University of Montpellier, France. Then, I completed my PhD about gut microbiota – skeletal muscle crosstalk in Muscular Dynamism and Metabolism lab. During my thesis, I worked on association of remarkable muscle phenotypes and intestinal bacterial signatures in order to determine underlying mechanisms of the gut microbiota – skeletal muscle relationship. I investigated this crosstalk in axenic mice, myostatin knock-out  hypertrophic muscle mice, mdx dystrophic mice together with hypoactivity – atrophic human model.

In December 2021, I started my SRP Diabetes Postdoctoral Fellowship at Karolinska Institutet supervised by Professor Juleen Zierath at the Integrative Physiology Group at Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery. Our main objective is to determine whether there is bidirectional signaling between the core clock and pathways coordinating mitochondrial metabolism, and the extent to which the circadian transcriptional machinery is disrupted in type 2 diabetes. To investigate this disruption in type 2 diabetes, we adopt multi-disciplinary approaches integrating animal models and cell-based systems with the clinical material from type 2 diabetes patients.

Project title: Circadian control of mitochondrial metabolism in type 2 diabetes.

Dr Guanglin Niu

I studied Molecular Biology and conducted my master study about the role of non-coding RNAs in muscle development at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China, from 2014 to 2017. After that, I joined Prof. Angelika Schnieke’s research group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, for a Ph.D. study. In the past 4 years, I have been working on p53 in tumorigenesis, and my investigation leads to discovering a novel circular RNA, 'Circular TP53', in a transgenic porcine model. I joined Dr. Ning Xu Landén's group at the Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institute as a Postdoc fellow in May 2021.

I will start my SRP Diabetes Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2022 and work on a project focusing on the circRNAs encoded by mitochondria (mecciRNAs). I will investigate the role of mecciRNAs in mitochondrial dysfunction and diabetic foot ulcer and evaluate the therapeutic potential of targeting circRNAs in hard-to-heal wounds. The findings of this study may, from a new angle, add to our understanding of the pathogenesis of diabetic ulcers and uncover novel drug targets for further clinical studies.

Project title: Mitochondria-encoded circular RNAs in Diabetic foot ulcers.

Dr Omar Hmeadi

I graduated from Aleppo University (Syria) with a BSc in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Subsequently, I obtained an MSc in Clinical Biochemistry from Damascus University (Syria), where my research focused on the relationship between serum magnesium levels and obesity, insulin resistance, and type-2 diabetes. In 2020, I completed my Ph.D. in Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University (Sweden) working with Professor Sebastian Barg where I investigated mechanisms that coupled glucose sensing to hormone secretion in the different pancreatic cells. I then continued in the same lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow. My postdoctoral research centered on understanding the nature of impaired pancreatic hormone secretion in type-2 diabetic islets and the visualization of processes occurring at the level of individual cells or intact islets.

From February 2022, I shall be working at the Karolinska Institutet as a SRP Postdoctoral Research Fellow, where I will have the opportunity to work with Niklas Mejhert and Mikael Rydén at MedH, KI. My new area of study will be to assess white adipocyte heterogeneity and its link to insulin sensitivity, insulin resistance, and type-2 diabetes. In addtion to isolate and functionally characterize human white adipocyte subpopulations. I hope that this experience may improve our understanding of white adipocyte biology and its relation to insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes, and lay the foundation for the future development of therapies targeting white adipose tissue.

Project title: Adipocyte heterogeneity - a novel determinant of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Dr Lynn Alaeddine

As an SRP Postdoctoral fellow, I specialize in the field of immunometabolism in adipose tissue. My academic journey began with a Master's degree in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from the American University of Beirut, followed by a PhD in Neuroscience from Université Paris Cité. During my graduate studies, I described a novel double-hit model of stress that precipitate cognitive and emotional disorders in type 2 diabetes. This work highlighted the critical disruption of brain bioenergetics and offered a fresh perspective for drug repurposing aimed at preventing disease progression in at risk populations.

Since 2023, I have been recruited to the SRP postdoctoral program, conducting research in the laboratory of Niklas Mejhert and Mikael Ryden at MedH, KI. My current research focuses on understanding how bioenergetic switches orchestrates epigenetic modifications of key inflammatory pathways within the adipose tissue, with a focus on the mitochondrial nuclear shuttle of metabolites. By defining the intricate mechanisms of nutrient sensing and inflammation in fat cells, we aim to decode the complexities of insulin resistance and ectopic lipid deposition to breakthrough therapeutic modalities for common metabolic disorders.

Project title: Mechanisms linking white adipocyte glutamine metabolism to insulin resistance

Dr Paulina Jonéus

I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Statistics from Uppsala University, Sweden and in 2023, I earned my PhD in Statistics. The title of my thesis was Design and Analysis with Observational Data: Protocols and Modeling with the aim of causal inference. Throughout my doctoral education, my main focus was on research methodologies in causal inference and time series modelling. My thesis focused mainly on using observational, high-dimensional healthcare register data. 

In October 2023, I started my SRP Diabetes Postdoctoral Fellowship at Karolinska Institutet under the supervision of Laura Pazzagli at the Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine. The project focuses on the study of socioeconomic factors and antidiabetic medication use patterns in patients with type 2 diabetes. The aim is to investigate the association between antidiabetic medication adherence, including treatment interruption and type 2 diabetes consequences, and socioeconomic and demographic variables.

Project title: The impact of socioeconomic factors on antidiabetic medications use and discontinuation and type 2 diabetes consequences such as cardiovascular problems, kidney failure and retinopathy

Dr Emily Shorter

I graduated from the University of Westminster (London, UK) with a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology and Genetics. I then went to the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK) where I conducted a MSc in Molecular Medicine, with an independent research project investigating inflammation and cellular senescence in human skin ageing. From there, I moved to the University of Liverpool (Liverpool, UK) where I joined Dr Blandine Poulet´s lab in the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease for my PhD studies. My PhD, which was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, focused on exploring the role of microRNAs in the interaction between osteoarthritis and muscle atrophy. During my project, I used histological, functional, molecular, and transcriptomic techniques to characterise the skeletal muscle myopathy in multiple novel mouse models of osteoarthritis (both post-traumatic and idiopathic). I then tested whether treatment with a miR-378a-3p mimic could restore muscle and joint function in these models. I graduated with my PhD in November 2022 and moved to the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden) in December 2022 to start my SRP-funded postdoctoral fellowship in Associate Professor Johanna Lanner´s lab (Department of Physiology and Pharmacology). For this postdoc project, I am using a translational approach involving PAD patients, mouse models, and state-of-the-art methods to characterise PAD myopathy and illuminate molecular mechanisms underlying the associated muscle dysfunction.

Project title: Illuminating mechanisms linked to muscle dysfunction in peripheral artery disease

Dr Lei Li

I earned my bachelor’s degree from Tongji University, specializing in molecular biology and nanobiology. Following this, I pursued a Ph.D. in biology, focusing on melanocortin receptors, critical G-protein coupled receptors involved in energy homeostasis through neuroendocrine pathways. My doctoral research centered on decoding functional changes related to single amino-acid mutations in human and mouse MC4R, a promising target for appetite regulation. Subsequently, I served as a postdoctoral researcher at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, where I explored cross-species differences in the central melanocortin network using a multidisciplinary approach. My work aimed to describe an evolutionarily stable communication between peripheral and central melanocortin system.

In early 2024, I joined the SRP Diabetes Postdoctoral Research Fellowship under the guidance of Professor Alessandro Furlan at the Department of Neuroscience. Utilizing viral-based neuron tracing, optogenetics, and chemogenetics methodologies, my current research investigates the neural connections through which somatosensory innervation of the pancreas regulates functions such as glucose homeostasis. The findings from this project have the potential to enhance our understanding of peripheral neuron networks and contribute to the development of clinical approaches for treating pancreatic dysfunction.

Project title: Somatosensory networks control glucose homeostasis