Mice lacking triglyceride synthesis enzymes in adipose tissue are resistant to diet-induced obesity.
Chitraju C, Fischer AW, Ambaw YA, Wang K, Yuan B, Hui S, Walther TC, Farese RV.
Elife. 2023 10 02. 12. PMID: 37782317
Robert Farese, Jr., is Chair and Professor of the Department of Molecular Metabolism at the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, where he has run a laboratory jointly with Dr. Tobias Walther since 2014. Dr. Farese earned a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Florida and an M.D. at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He trained in medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and completed a research fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco and the Gladstone Institutes.
Dr. Farese serves on the board of the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). He has received numerous honors, including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, the Bristol-Myers Squibb “Freedom to Discover Award”, and the Avanti Award in Lipids.
Research
The Farese-Walther laboratory studies cellular lipid and energy metabolism, in particular the mechanisms and physiology of neutral lipid synthesis and storage in lipid droplets. More broadly, the lab investigates the mechanisms by which cells regulate the abundance of lipids, how they store lipids to buffer fluctuations in their availability, and how these processes function in membrane biology and cell physiology.
Dr. Farese has made important contributions to our understanding of lipid metabolism. His laboratory discovered genes that encode enzymes critical for neutral lipid metabolism, including the DGAT enzymes which mediate triglyceride (TG) synthesis. Excessive accumulation of TGs underlies obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, and other metabolic diseases. Since 2007, Dr. Farese’s laboratory has studied the role of lipid metabolism in the central nervous system, particularly in neurodegenerative disorders such as Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).
Chitraju C, Fischer AW, Ambaw YA, Wang K, Yuan B, Hui S, Walther TC, Farese RV.
Elife. 2023 10 02. 12. PMID: 37782317
Chung J, Park J, Lai ZW, Lambert TJ, Richards RC, Zhang J, Walther TC, Farese RV.
Nat Cell Biol. 2023 08. 25(8):1101-1110. PMID: 37443287
Wang K, Lee CW, Sui X, Kim S, Wang S, Higgs AB, Baublis AJ, Voth GA, Liao M, Walther TC, Farese RV.
Nat Commun. 2023 06 14. 14(1):3533. PMID: 37316513
Sui X, Wang K, Song K, Xu C, Song J, Lee CW, Liao M, Farese RV, Walther TC.
Nat Commun. 2023 05 29. 14(1):3100. PMID: 37248213
Walther TC, Kim S, Arlt H, Voth GA, Farese RV.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2023 06. 80:102606. PMID: 37150040
Farese RV, Walther TC.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2023 05 02. 15(5). PMID: 36096640
Bond LM, Ibrahim A, Lai ZW, Walzem RL, Bronson RT, Ilkayeva OR, Walther TC, Farese RV.
J Biol Chem. 2023 03. 299(3):103022. PMID: 36805337
Boland S, Swarup S, Ambaw YA, Malia PC, Richards RC, Fischer AW, Singh S, Aggarwal G, Spina S, Nana AL, Grinberg LT, Seeley WW, Surma MA, Klose C, Paulo JA, Nguyen AD, Harper JW, Walther TC, Farese RV.
Nat Commun. 2022 10 07. 13(1):5924. PMID: 36207292
Song J, Mizrak A, Lee CW, Cicconet M, Lai ZW, Tang WC, Lu CH, Mohr SE, Farese RV, Walther TC.
Nat Cell Biol. 2022 09. 24(9):1364-1377. PMID: 36050470
Arlt H, Sui X, Folger B, Adams C, Chen X, Remme R, Hamprecht FA, DiMaio F, Liao M, Goodman JM, Farese RV, Walther TC.
Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2022 03. 29(3):194-202. PMID: 35210614
Bob Farese Jr. is an expert in how lipid synthesis and storage may lead to disease—and an accomplished amateur photographer.
Quick updates about the latest public health news from across the School and beyond.
For immediate release: April 13, 2020 Boston, MA – Disrupting the production of a class of lipids known as sphingolipids in neurons improved symptoms of neurodegeneration and increased survival in a mouse model, according to new research led…
If you look at the big noncommunicable diseases of aging that the Harvard Chan School is concerned about, lipid metabolism is critical in every case.
January 21, 2020—It’s been a busy year for Robert Farese, Jr. In January 2019, Farese was appointed chair of the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases—now known as the Department of Molecular Metabolism—and he continues to co-run a…