# The Role of Extracellular Environment in Adipocyte Fate

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO · 2020 · $67,446

## Abstract

Project Summary
Obesity, a chronic imbalance in energy homeostasis between energy intake and energy expenditure, is a public
health crisis and continues to be among the most important medical challenges in the U.S.A. Obesity creates a
greater than $190 billion burden annually on American healthcare. The development of therapeutic approaches
that lessen or eliminate obesity-associated morbidity and mortality would have a transformative impact on the
American population and healthcare spending. There are two types of adipose tissue in mammals: white adipose
tissue which is specialized for energy storage, and thermogenic adipose tissue specialized for energy
expenditure and thermogenesis. Thermogenic adipose tissue has been shown to have an inverse correlation
with adiposity, meaning that it might be possible to increase whole-body energy expenditure by increasing the
number and/or activity of thermogenic adipose tissue. Thus, altering adipose thermogenic capacity could be a
treatment for metabolic diseases, including obesity. New therapies targeting thermogenic adipose tissue have
failed in maintaining transformed adipose tissue in-vivo, in part, due to the limited understanding of how
environmental factors control adipocyte fate and maintenance. This research effort aims to understand the role
of the extracellular matrix interaction (ECM) in the fate of adipocytes. This information will identify new therapeutic
targets for obesity and metabolic diseases. A better understanding of the underlying causes of these
characteristics for thermogenic fat will allow us to specifically manipulate these cells to improve systemic energy
metabolism and glucose homeostasis, and to explore synthetic substrates that increase formation of
thermogenic adipose tissue.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9992787
- **Project number:** 1F32DK122754-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO
- **Principal Investigator:** Maria Alejandra Gonzalez Porras
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $67,446
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9992787

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9992787, The Role of Extracellular Environment in Adipocyte Fate (1F32DK122754-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9992787. Licensed CC0.

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