Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Chris Denning, University of Nottingham, UK
- Second opponent: PhD, Senior Scientist David Kunke, Oslo University Hospital,
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Associate Professor Ragnhild Eskeland, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor II Trond Diseth, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Gareth Sullivan, University of Oslo
Summary
The number of obese adults has increased to over 300 million since 2000, affecting general health in light of the COVID pandemic and putting an immense strain on health services to cover the costs. To mitigate this will require access to effective models that allow us to understand disease aetiology, and develop novel therapeutic interventions, particularly concerning the fat-liver axis in metabolic diseases. Metabolic syndrome is complex and multifactorial and therefore not restricted to just one tissue or cell. Accordingly, we encounter the necessity of multiple cell types for in vitro modelling, since animal models are not up to the task, e.g. due to differences in cytochromes P450 enzymes of mice and humans. Thus, we are proposing minimal requirements to build an in vitro fat-liver axis by utilising induced pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation to liver organoids and adipocytes for the described application. Taken together, the results of this thesis deliver the two major building blocks to establish the fat liver axis in vitro. This could potentially facilitate the study of metabolic diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in vitro, delivering an alternative to animal models in the future.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.