Welcome to the K Lab!

What is it like in the K lab?

The K lab aims to be a highly dynamic, social, inclusive, diverse and collaborative group that believes in science and advocates for women in science. We focus on interdisciplinary research coupling both informatics and wet-lab techniques. We believe that mitochondria are the center of the universe and everything else happens because of their (mal)adaptation. We also believe that studying both sexes in research is a fundamental aspect of translational science. We meet every week to discuss almost everything and some science!

What do we do?

The major research focus of the K Lab is to understand how host genetic background and sex differences influence mitochondrial (mal)adaptation and increase the susceptibility to several cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity, Alzheimer's, atherosclerosis, heart failure and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).

What are our big questions?

1. Why are the premenopausal females resistant to developing metabolic diseases and on the contrary, why do the males readily develop them?
2. How does the mitochondrial adaptation/maladaptation cycle affect metabolic diseases?
3. How do the host's genetic background and sex differences affect mitochondrial functions?

What are our approaches?

1. A population-based ‘systems genetics’ approach to integrating information on natural genetic variations (host genetics) with molecular phenotypes (such as gene expression, proteomics, etc.) and clinical phenotypes, with a targeted focus on sex differences and mitochondria, to identify candidate genes.
2. Characterize the candidate genes in genetically modified mouse models and/or mammalian cell lines.
3. Characterize the mitochondrial functions using a Seahorse Bioanalyzer.
4. Characterize the molecular functions using RNA-sequencing and single-cell Genomics.