This autumn, we welcome another new student in our group: Christian Simonsson

Hi!

My name is
Christian Simonsson and I will be doing my master thesis here in the ISB-group.
I am a 5th year engineering biology student with my master’s profile
being Materials and Sensors in Biomedince. For my master’s thesis I wanted to
do something a bit different from what I have been doing the last two years. Since
my Bachelor’s project was on the topic of systems biology, and since I have an
interest in modeling (in biology and physiology ), I was very pleased when I
was given the opportunity to do my thesis here in the ISB group.

Adiponectin, which is a hormone released by mature
adipocyte has been shown to have an important role in the development of type-2
diabetes. However, the precise underlying mechanisms for the production and
release of such hormones in adipocytes are not fully understood. Therefore, an
ongoing project in the ISB group has been to use mathematical modeling to
describe the exocytosis of white adipocytes to predict adiponectin secretion,
making it possible to quantify the exocytosis and endocytosis rates. An article
on the subject was recently published by William Lövfors et al and in my
project I will make use of the model presented in this article. The goal is to
extend the model to also describe the experimental data for adiponectin
secretion induced through the activation of beta-adrenergic signaling pathways
upon extracellular adrenalin stimulation. Hopefully this might contribute to
creating a more complete framework for understanding the regulation of this
important metabolic hormone.