Research

Research Program

Four threads, one question about adipose tissue.

We integrate human cohorts, primary tissue, and molecular approaches to map how adipose tissue fails, and how that failure becomes metabolic disease.

01

Adipose tissue fibrosis

A distinct form of subcutaneous fat fibrosis predicts insulin resistance independent of fat mass. We dissect the transcriptional programs and ECM remodeling that turn expandable, healthy fat into a stiff, dysfunctional depot.

FIBROTIC REMODELING · ECM · INSULIN RESISTANCE

02

Immune-adipose interactions

Adipose tissue is an immune organ. We investigate how immune signaling and inflammatory crosstalk reshape adipose function, with particular attention to chronic inflammation in people living with HIV.

INFLAMMATION · HIV · TISSUE IMMUNOLOGY

03

The IDEO cohort

A diverse, deeply phenotyped cohort built to study the intersection of obesity, ethnicity, HIV, and metabolic health, paired with an adipose biopsy pipeline and cryopreserved specimens for mechanistic follow-up.

HUMAN COHORT · BIOREPOSITORY · DIVERSE POPULATIONS

04

Multi-omic tissue profiling

We apply transcriptomic, single-cell, and proteomic approaches to human adipose tissue to resolve the depot- and cell-type-specific programs that distinguish metabolically healthy from dysfunctional fat.

TRANSCRIPTOMICS · SINGLE-CELL · PROTEOMICS