Katrin Svensson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Stanford University

Research Description: : The overall goal of the Svensson Laboratory is to increase the understanding of how hormones and circulating protein factors regulate energy homeostasis under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Dr. Svensson’s research program uses an integrated discovery-molecular physiology approach to identify and study orphan hormones involved in regulating energy expenditure and obesity-related disorders such as diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Additionally, she has developed protocols to isolate, characterize, and phenotype heterogeneous cell populations from metabolic organs in mice with established metabolic diseases. This approach, when combined with single-cell transcriptomics analyses and CRISPR-mediated gene editing, has allowed her to resolve the cellular landscape during disease progression of fatty liver disease, including the identification of novel transcriptional regulators of de novo lipogenesis. Recently, she has identified circulating proteins with previously unknown functions and elucidated their role in regulating glucose homeostasis, energy expenditure, and insulin resistance. Dr. Svensson's longterm goal is to apply these discoveries toward the development of novel protein therapeutics or biomarkers for metabolic disorders. Dr. Svensson collaborates extensively with many members of the NORC.