Robert Farese, Jr., professor of genetics and complex diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has received a prestigious Laureate Award from the Endocrine Society.
Farese received the Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research for his seminal contributions to the understanding of cellular lipid metabolism. He and co-workers discovered the enzymatic basis for mammalian triglyceride synthesis via two enzymes, DGAT1 and DGAT2. His work has shown how alterations in lipid synthesis and storage contribute to the pathogenesis of human diseases, in particular type 2 diabetes, and has suggested new targets for therapy. Together with his scientific partner, Harvard Chan’s Tobias Walther, Farese has more recently pioneered the cell biology of lipid droplets, the cellular organelle responsible for storing triglycerides and metabolic energy, including identifying hundreds of genes that govern lipid storage in cells.
Farese is one of 14 Laureate Award winners for 2018. The awards will be presented in March in Chicago at ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Society’s 100th annual meeting and expo.
Read the Endocrine Society press release
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