Page 24 - The Hormel Institute 2024 Annual Report

24 | THE HORMEL INSTITUTE
// UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Our lab opened in January 2024, with several months dedicated to the initial set-up and building of our research
capacity. We welcomed the first three lab members in late May and early June 2024.
Our lab focuses on identifying new mechanisms involved in regulating metabolism, particularly ones that are relevant to human disease and targetable using pharmacological approaches. Our research spans different levels of biological organization, from the molecular and cellular levels to the organismal level.
This year, our primary achievement was estab- lishing the infrastructure and workflows nec- essary for conducting various experiments to address our biological questions. For instance,
we obtained resources to test the role of a candidate gene in metabolic health. In addition, we developed and validated human cell culture models for high-throughput experimentation,
a method that allows for experiments to be conducted simultaneously rather than one after the other, making our future research more time- and cost-effective.
Inspired by the legacy of The Hormel Institute, we have also begun to apply our findings and approaches to cancer biology.
Beyond research, we have been collaborating with other labs, applying for funding, seeking feedback, and establishing working relationships across the Institute and beyond to last for years to come.
Above: Divya Rawat, SURE intern Francis Perroud, Ewa Bielczyk-Maczynska, Lucy Diaz Left: Cultured adipocytes from murine model.