New Lundbeck Foundation Fellow follows endothelial cell dysfunction in obesity
Assistant professor Joanna Kalucka, Department of Biomedicine and Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), can now also entitle herself a ‘Lundbeck Foundation Fellow.’ The Lundbeck Foundation puts DKK 10 million into the fellowship to boost her research in obesity and vascular dysfunction even further.
In humans and other mammals, the inside of the blood vessels, the vascular wall, is composed of a layer of special cells, known as endothelial cells. The endothelium is part of a barrier, but it can also play a role in inflammation. This also applies to obesity-related inflammation, however we only have limited knowledge on how exactly the endothelial cells behave in these specific conditions.
Joanna Kalucka seeks to shed light on the function of the endothelial cells in obesity-related inflammation.
Joanna Kalucka’s project will bring new knowledge on the role of endothelial cells in adipose tissue in people suffering from obesity, but might also create the potential for developing novel therapeutic opportunities for people with obesity-related disorders, especially Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
The grant supports Joanna Kalucka’s five-year project entitled ‘Endothelial cell heterogeneity during obesity’ and will enable her to build up her own research group.
Contact
Assistant professor Joanna Kalucka
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine and
Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies
Tel: (+45) 87 15 32 73
Email: joanna.kalucka@aias.au.dk