My multi-disciplinary academic training and research experience have provided me with an excellent background in biology including molecular biology, biochemistry, cell signaling and genetics, as well as drug design and bioinformatics. During my pre-doctoral I gained expertise in metabolic mouse phenotyping and epigenetic modification. I applied these techniques combined with deep sequencing technology including Chip-seq and RNA-seq to study different cell cycle related proteins such as the product of CDKN2a locus P16, P19 in β-cells adaptation and adipose tissue remodeling. In the Farmer Lab, I focused on adipose tissue remodeling and cellular crosstalk during both obesity and induced thermogenesis using cutting-edge technology including single cell sequencing and mass spectrometry. As a faculty member in the Biochemistry Department, my research interests include using single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and mass spectrometry to uncover new mechanisms of adipose tissue remodeling in disease.
Representative Publications
- Rabhi N, Desevin K, Belkina AC, Tilston-Lunel A, Varelas X, Layne MD, Farmer SR. Obesity-induced senescent macrophages activate a fibrotic transcriptional program in adipocyte progenitors. Life Sci Alliance. 2022 May; 5(5).PMID: 35181634.
- Rabhi N, Farmer SR. Unraveling the complexity of thermogenic remodeling of white fat reveals potential antiobesity therapies. Genes Dev. 2021 Nov 1;35(21-22):1395-1397. doi: 10.1101/gad.349053.121.
- Jafari N, Kolla M, Meshulam T, Shafran JS, Qiu Y, Casey AN, Pompa IR, Ennis CS, Mazzeo CS, Rabhi N, Farmer SR, Denis GV. Adipocyte-derived exosomes may promote breast cancer progression in type 2 diabetes. Sci Signal. 2021 Nov 23;14(710):eabj2807. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.abj2807. PMID: 34813359
- Biagi C, Cury SS, Alves CP, Rabhi N, Silva WA, Farmer SR, Carvalho RF, Batista ML. Multidimensional Single-Nuclei RNA-Seq Reconstruction of Adipose Tissue Reveals Adipocyte Plasticity Underlying Thermogenic Response. Cells 2021, 10, 3073.
- Rabhi N, Desevin K, Cortez BN, Hekman R, Lin JZ, Emili A, Farmer SR. The cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor Roscovitine prevents diet-induced metabolic disruption in obese mice. Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 13;11(1):20365. PMID: 34645915
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Wang D, Rabhi N, Yet SF, Farmer SR, Layne MD. Aortic carboxypeptidase-like protein regulates vascular adventitial progenitor and fibroblast differentiation through myocardin related transcription factor A. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 17; 11(1):3948. PMID: 33597582
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Batista ML, Meshulam T, Desevin K, Rabhi N, Farmer SR. Three-Dimensional Adipocyte Culture as a Model to Study Cachexia-Induced White Adipose Tissue Remodeling. J Vis Exp. 2021 01 18; (167). PMID: 33522508
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Rabhi N, Belkina AC, Desevin K, Cortez BN, Farmer SR. Shifts of Immune Cell Populations Differ in Response to Different Effectors of Beige Remodeling of Adipose Tissue. iScience. 2020 Dec 18; 23(12):101765. PMID: 33294778
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Kim S, Rabhi N, Blum BC, Hekman R, Wynne K, Emili A, Farmer S, Schlezinger JJ. Triphenyl phosphate is a selective PPARg modulator that does not induce brite adipogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Arch Toxicol. 2020 09; 94(9):3087-3103. PMID: 32683515
- Jones JEC, Rabhi N, Orofino J, Gamini R, Perissi V, Vernochet C, Farmer SR. The Adipocyte Acquires a Fibroblast-Like Transcriptional Signature in Response to a High Fat Diet. Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 11; 10(1):2380. PMID: 32047213.