Welcome to the Kajimura Lab Homepage! Our lab is based in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. We are also part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and a member of the Metabolism Program at the Broad Institute.

We aim to understand the molecular basis of bioenergetics in health and disease, i.e., how the body controls energy balance, and how such processes go wrong in obesity, diabetes, cancer, and aging. The overarching goal is to generate a blueprint for rewiring the bioenergetic circuitry by defined factors, thereby improving metabolic health.

A particular focus in our lab is adipose tissue because it dynamically remodels the cellular composition, metabolism, and function in response to a variety of cues, including nutritional status, hormonal signals, and temperature.  Such metabolic adaptation in adipose tissues, involving differentiation, mitochondrial biogenesis/clearance, lipolysis/lipogenesis, and thermogenesis, plays a central role in the regulation of whole-body energy homeostasis. Conversely, defects in these processes lead to obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and certain types of cancer.

Our team is multidisciplinary and international, comprising molecular biologists, biochemists, physiologists, and clinicians from diverse backgrounds who work together in a highly collaborative environment. The laboratory is supported by research funds from HHMI, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The Pew Charitable Trusts, and other private foundations.