Seminar: "Inside Fat: Discovering How Adipose Tissue Shapes Health and Disease" - Christy Gliniak, Ph.D.

Animal Sciences Seminar:

"Inside Fat: Discovering How Adipose Tissue Shapes Health and Disease"

Christy Gliniak, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers.

Adipose tissue is more than just “fat”—it’s an endocrine organ that responds dynamically to extracellular signals and plays a central role in energy homeostasis and immune regulation. Among fat depots, mesenteric visceral fat is strongly linked to obesity-related diseases and inflammatory bowel disease, yet it remains one of the least studied. Its hidden location in the abdomen and complex mix of cell types make it a scientific challenge, but also an opportunity to better understand why unhealthy obesity leads to widespread metabolic disease. In this talk, we’ll explore how adipose tissue remodels, both in healthy and unhealthy ways, in response to overnutrition, focusing on the influence of immune cells in fat and potential therapeutic strategies to restore healthy function. I’ll also share my lab’s plans to investigate mesenteric fat and the tools we use to study adipocytes, adipocyte progenitors, and immune cells at high resolution, along with opportunities for students to get involved in uncovering the secrets of this unique fat depot and its impact on disease.