Asst. Prof. Ding, Lianggong
The global pandemic of obesity, fatty liver, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders poses serious threats to human health and the medical system. The imbalance of lipid anabolism and catabolism is generally believed to be one of the main factors, which necessitates organisms to develop mechanisms for spatiotemporal orchestration of diverse lipid metabolic processes amongst various subcellular compartments.
Despite significant advancements in understanding the regulation of individual lipid processes and their dysregulations in metabolic disorders, the intricacies of spatiotemporal interplay among diverse lipid metabolic processes remain poorly understood in physio-pathological conditions, thereby hindering the development of novel treatments.
The Ding lab is dedicated to investigating crosstalk among various subcellular compartments, including mitochondria, peroxisomes, lipid droplets (LDs), Golgi apparatus and cytoplasm, in cells with active lipid metabolism, particularly lipolysis and ketogenesis, and uncovering the roles of these communications in maintaining organismal homeostasis or contributing to metabolic disorders.
Research Areas
Hepatic metabolism, Peroxisome, Mitochondria, Ketogenesis, Lipolysis
- Ding, L., Huwyler, F., Long, F., Yang, W., Binz, J., Wernlé, K., Pfister, M., Klug, M., Balaz, M., Ukropcova, B., Ukropec, J., Wu, C., Wang, T., Gao, M., Clavien, P.-A., Dutkowski, P., Tibbitt, M.W., and Wolfrum, C. “Glucose Controls Lipolysis through Golgi PtdIns4P-Mediated Regulation of ATGL.” Nature Cell Biology 26 (2024): 552–566. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-024-01386-y
- Efthymiou, V., Ding, L., Balaz, M., Sun, W., Balazova, L., Straub, L.G., Dong, H., Simon, E., Ghosh, A., Perdikari, A., Keller, S., Ghoshdastider, U., Horvath, C., Moser, C., Hamilton, B., Neubauer, H., and Wolfrum, C. “Inhibition of AXL Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Enhances Brown Adipose Tissue Functionality in Mice.” Nature Communications 14 (2023): 4162. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39715-8
- Ding, L., Sun, W., Balaz, M., He, A., Klug, M., Wieland, S., Caiazzo, R., Raverdy, V., Pattou, F., Lefebvre, P., Staels, B., and Wolfrum, C. “Peroxisomal β-Oxidation Acts as a Sensor for Intracellular Fatty Acids and Regulates Lipolysis.” Nature Metabolism 3 (2021): 1648–1661. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00489-2
- Ding, L., Lei, Y., Han, Y., Li, Y., Ji, X., and Liu, L. “Vimar Is a Novel Regulator of Mitochondrial Fission through Miro.” PLOS Genetics 12 (2016): e1006359. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006359