Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
Margherio Conference Center – Mazurek Education Commons

Silvia Corvera, MD, MS
Professor and Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School
“Mechanisms of human adipose tissue development impacting diabetes”

Abstract
This seminar centers around the complex relationship between development of type 2 diabetes and the development of adipose tissue. Individuals vary greatly in how adipose tissue is distributed among different regions of the body, and in the abundance of different types of adipose tissue including the “beige” or thermogenic type, which is metabolically beneficial. Age also has profound effects on adipose tissue distribution and composition, and all these factors modify diabetes risk. To understand how different types of adipose tissue develop, and what factors determine regional distribution, we developed approaches to identify stem/progenitor cells from human adipose tissue. These cells are the reservoir from which adipocytes develop throughput the lifetime and hold the key to understanding the relationship between adipose tissue, metabolism, and diabetes. I will discuss new and published data related to the characteristics of these cells, and of how we can use them to model human disease in humanized mice. Our hope is to leverage this information to develop new therapeutic approaches.