Keren Hilgendorf, Ph.D.

Research

The Hilgendorf lab will elucidate how stem cells use an antenna-like appendage called a primary cilium to integrate the molecular signals that regulate their fate. Stem cells in a variety of tissues—including muscle, bone, and fat—possess a primary cilium, a cellular protrusion involved in interpreting molecular signals. As a postdoctoral fellow, I discovered that the stem cells in fat tissue (called adipocyte precursor cells, or APCs) differentiate into mature fat cells when they detect certain dietary fats—an effect that depends on cilia. In my own lab, I found that these cilia also harbor receptors for specific hormones and inflammatory molecules, which stimulate and inhibit fat cell differentiation, respectively. Now, using methods in cell and molecular genetics, biochemistry, and genomics, I will identify additional cilium-associated receptors and determine whether dietary fats, hormones, and inflammatory molecules all act by stimulating (or blocking) the same ciliary signaling pathways to control cell fate. I will also follow up on a recent observation that APCs from obese individuals and mice have fewer, shorter cilia and assess whether inflammatory signals drive this ciliary shrinkage—and whether obesity alters which receptors associate with these shortened cilia. My findings could provide new therapeutic targets for disorders associated with ciliary impairment, including obesity and diabetes.