Shinoda Lab

The different shades of adipose tissue

The Shinoda lab focuses on understanding how adipose tissues form (adipose tissue development) in normal and pathologic conditions. Dysfunction in adipose tissue development leads to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other life threatening diseases. There are at least three different types of adipose tissues in humans. One is white adipose tissue, which stores excess energy. The other two types are beige and brown adipose tissues, which possess enormous amount of mitochondria and have the ability to burn calories and counteract obesity and metabolic diseases. Recent studies have shown that the loss of beige adipose tissues is one major cause of adult obesity.

Our approach: single cell genomics and bioinformatics

Recent advancements in nanotechnology and DNA sequencing enable the study of organ development at a single cell resolution. We utilize single cell genomics to identify cellular origins of beige adipose and cell type specification in developing beige adipose tissues. We also aim to highlight changes in adipose tissue heterogeneity in human metabolic diseases, such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. A key technique in analyzing single cell data is bioinformatics. We are harnessing machine learning, multivariate statistics and biological databases to discover new subpopulation of cells, their dynamics, and the gene programs. We also develop novel algorithms to predict lineage relationships of multiple populations. Ultimately, we hope to translate these findings into regenerative beige fat therapy for obesity and diabetes.

Einstein-Mount Sinai Diabetes Research Center

The Shinoda lab is a part of the NIH-funded Einstein-Mount Sinai Diabetes Research Center (ES-DRC). ES-DRC promotes new discoveries and the enhancement of scientific progress through support of cutting-edge basic and clinical research related to the etiology of diabetes, with the goal of rapidly translating research findings into novel therapeutics of diabetes and related conditions. ES-DRCs provides affiliated laboratories access to specialized technical resources and expertise ("core facilities"), which creates an environment that supports innovative research.