Alumni
Dr. Neil Sprenkle grew up in Allentown, PA. Neil completed his M.S. in the lab of Dr. Gordon Meares at West Virginia University, where they provided novel insights into the cell-nonautonomous role of the ER stress response among cells of the central nervous system. Following his M.S., he pursued his Ph.D. studies in the lab of Dr. Heather Pua at Vanderbilt University. While there, Neil investigated miRNA-driven mechanisms underlying the accrual of lipid-associated macrophages in obese adipose tissue. Neil joined the Hotamışlıgil lab in the late summer of 2023 and is interested in elucidating signals instructing organelle remodeling in metabolic diseases and identifying novel targets for caloric restriction mimetics.
Ozgur has a Ph.D. in protein crystallography and a Master’s degree in Biochemistry. He originally joined the Hotamisligil Lab as a post-doctoral fellow from 2015-2018. He returned from 2022-2024 as a visiting scientist as part of the Hotamışlıgil lab’s FABP4 team focusing on structural biology. In his spare time, he enjoys learning and playing the electric guitar.
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Dr. Wellen was a graduate student in the Hotamisligil lab researching the role of STAMP2 in coordination of nutrient and inflammatory responses and regulation of adipocyte function and systemic metabolic homeostasis. After receiving her PhD from Harvard University, she began her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 before becoming a Professor University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine in 2011.
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Dr. Yang began a postdoctoral fellowship with the Hotamisligil lab after graduating in 2007 with her PhD from Kent State University. Then in 2014, she began her professorship with the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine. Her lab’s research focuses on identifying the molecular components of integration between organelle stress responses that are in play in obesity and diabetes at the cellular and organismic levels.
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Amir Tirosh received his MD, PhD from Ben Gurion University in Israel. He began his postdoctoral fellowship with the Hotamisligil lab in 2010 and in 2014 was promoted to Research Associate. He also became an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School in 2014. Currently, Dr. Tirosh is the Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Sheba Medical Center as well as a Professor of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University.
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Ekin Güney received his MD degree at Istanbul University in 2014 and joined the lab as a postdoctoral research fellow in January 2015. Dr. Güney has since began a pathology residency position with the W.A. Weiss Lab at the University of California, San Francisco.
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Dr. Calay finished his PhD program at Harvard University in 2014 before starting his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Hotamışlıgil lab that same year. Since his from the lab departure in 2019, he has worked at Sema4 and is now working as a Director of Biomedical Research at Nference.
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Dr. Garfinkel began his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Hotamışlıgil lab in 2016. Since his departure from the lab in 2021, he has been working as a Senior Scientist with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.
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Dr. Arruda began her Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Hotamışlıgil lab in 2010. She was then promoted to a Research Scientist in 2017 before becoming an independent faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in 2022.
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While pursuing her medical studies in Munich, Germany, Lea is investigating the regulation of macrophage phenotypes in Multiple Sclerosis in the context of her experimental doctoral thesis at the Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology. Coming across the group of fatty-acid binding proteins in her work on neuroinflammation and the wish to expand her understanding of the link between metabolism and inflammation made her join the Hotamisligil lab. During her six-month research appointment, she worked alongside Dr. Hatoon Baazim to dissect the role of FABP4/5 in SARS-CoV2 infection.
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Gizel came to the Hotamışlıgil as a final year undergraduate student at the University of Oxford studying Biochemistry, a 4-year degree that includes an integrated Master’s project. During her time with the lab, she was able to strengthen her understanding of metabolic Biochemistry and explore the connection between obesity and inflammation along with gaining a better appreciation of immunometabolism by working with leading researchers in the field.
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Ezgi is from Istanbul, Turkey. She came to the US after graduating from UWC Changshu China to pursue a BS in Integrative Biology at the University of Florida. She completed an honors thesis on the effects of butyrate on axonal regeneration in C. elegans and is interested in the mechanisms of complex human diseases as her future research path. She is currently a Ph. D. candidate at Washington University.
Dr. Mahsa Fardisi grew up in Shiraz, IRAN. She obtained her MS (2011) and Ph.D. (2015) degrees in Entomology (insect biology) at Purdue University. Her graduate research focused on food and feed susceptibility to insect pests. She was a postdoc (2015-2019) at the Center for Urban and Industrial Pest Management at Purdue, focusing on controlling German cockroaches while reducing their resistance to chemicals. Then, she joined Dr. Moeser’s Gastrointestinal Stress Biology lab (2019) as a research assistant at Michigan State University. Her project focused on early-life adversity on gut immune development in a porcine model.
Nadine is from Ramallah, Palestine, and received her A.B. in Neurobiology from Harvard College. Previously, she focused her research on Type 2 diabetes and aging specifically looking at beta cells and the hypothalamus. In the future, Nadine is interested in pursuing a career in the intersection of diabetes and metabolism through the lens of public health.
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Jillian is from Queens, NY, and graduated from Wheaton College, MA, with a degree in biochemistry. During her time, she interned at the Haykel Hospital, Lebanon, and conducted research in biomedical informatics, organic chemistry, and molecular metabolism research. In the future, she is interested in pursuing a career in cardiovascular metabolism research.
Kayla is originally from California and moved to Boston to start her position at the Hotamisligil Lab in November 2021. She has a bachelor’s in Women and Gender studies from San Francisco State University and was also a member of the Department of Molecular Metabolism’s equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging committee.
Dr. Isabel Graupera is from Barcelona, Catalonia. She received her M.D. degree at UAB University and completed her hepatologist residency at Hospital Sant Pau. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Barcelona, where she focused on inflammatory biomarkers and chronic liver diseases. In obtaining a faculty position at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona as a senior hepatologist, Graupera’s research focuses on the influence of adipose tissue inflammation in metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. She joined the Hotamisligil lab in 2021 as part of a sabbatical program and was working on the interplay between cellular metabolism and inflammation in the context of metabolic liver disease, more specifically in the role of NrF1 in metabolic fatty liver disease.
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Dr. Hatoon Baazim was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she received a BCs degree in Biochemistry at King Saud University. She then moved to Thuwal, to King Abdulla University for Science and Technology (KAUST), where she received her MSc degree in Bioscience. For her PhD, Hatoon worked with Prof. Andreas Bergthaler, at the Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM), Vienna, Austria, studying Immune-metabolic regulation during chronic virus infection. Hatoon’s research interest focuses on the influence of adipose tissue biology on pathophysiology and disease outcome.
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Dr. Saksi is a research associate who joined the Hotamışlıgil lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2016. Originally from Tornio, Finland, he obtained both his MSc and PhD degrees at the University of Helsinki. The major focus of his research has been on the molecular mechanisms that contribute to symptom generation in human atherosclerosis, and specifically the role of aP2 protein in lipid metabolism and cardiometabolic diseases.
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Dr. Prentice was a research associate who initially joined the Hotamışlıgil lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2015. Originally from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, she obtained both her hBSc and PhD at the University of Toronto. Kacey is interested in understanding the molecular basis for how circulating factors influence insulin secretion, and how these may contribute to beta cell dysfunction and the development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Prentice is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto and seeks to continue defining how the circulating protein aP2 may influence these pathways.
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Dr. Güneş Parlakgül was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his MD degree at Istanbul University in 2014 and joined the lab as a postdoctoral research fellow in January 2015. Dr. Parlakgül worked on the organelle dynamics and homeostasis in physiology and disease contexts such as obesity.
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Dr. Engin began her postdoctoral fellowship in the lab in 2008 and has since moved on to her independent career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is now an Associate Professor. Her lab’s research focuses on uncovering the causes of type 1 diabetes and metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
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Dr. Blotta joined the lab in 2014, where she worked on understanding how the exocrine pancreas maintains its homeostasis in both physiological and pathological conditions. She is now a Senior Medical Director at Area 23, a company focused on healthcare marketing.
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Dr. Arduini began his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Hotamışlıgil lab in 2011. After the completion of his fellowship he moved onto a few roles at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and is now the Director of Pulmonary Drug Discovery and the Scientific Lead of Cardiac Tissue Repair at Bayer.
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Dr. Alexander Bartelt received his Diploma in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Hamburg, Germany in 2007 with honors. During his PhD at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf he pioneered brown fat metabolic research with Prof. Jörg Heeren and embarked into immunometabolism of brown fat during his postdoctoral training at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with Prof. Gökhan Hotamisligil. Dr. Bartlet is a Professor of Cardiovascular Metabolism at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München.
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Dr. Tsaousidou comes from Thessaloniki, Greece, where she also obtained her degree in Biology/Genetics from Aristotle University. She then moved to Cologne, Germany, and under the supervision of Jens Brüning, director of the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, she received her MSc and PhD with a scholarship from the International Graduate School in Development Health and Disease of the University of Cologne. During her time with the Hotamışlıgil lab she worked on immunometabolism and cancer. Dr. Tsaousidou is now a Senior Scientist with Generate Biomedicines Inc.
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David received his MBA in 1976 and has pursued a career in management focused on organizational behavior, change management, and community building.