Stephen R. Farmer, PhD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Obesity has now reached pandemic proportions, resulting in dramatic increases in the occurrence of its associated disorders including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Understanding the processes and metabolic perturbations that contribute to the expansion of adipose depots accompanying obesity is critical for the development of appropriate therapeutics. Expansion of white adipose (WAT) tissue depots particularly the intra-abdominal depots contribute to insulin resistance and inflammation that lead to type 2 diabetes, whereas brown adipose (BAT) resists expansion because it oxidizes lipids and, consequently, it is associated with an healthier phenotype. Our studies are focused on identifying the mechanisms regulating the formation and function of white and brown adipocytes (fat cells) using a variety of experimental approaches including overexpression and knock down of specific nuclear factors that we consider to be likely regulators of these processes in cells in culture as well as in mice. At present our focus is on nuclear factors that modulate the activity of the two principal regulators of adipogenesis (fat cell differentiation) peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARg) and CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins alpha, beta and delta (C/EBPs). We are particularly interested in identifying the factors regulating commitment of mesenchymal progenitors to the adipogenic lineage and are adopting a variety of approaches to achieve this goal, which includes gene profiling to discover novel regulators as well as investigating the role of selected candidate genes.

Publications

  • Published 1/25/2025

    Dariolli R, Nir R, Mushlam T, Souza GR, Farmer SR, Batista ML. Optimized scaffold-free human 3D adipose tissue organoid culture for obesity and disease modeling. SLAS Discov. 2025 Mar; 31:100218. PMID: 39870353.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/5/2024

    Hu AJ, Li W, Dinh C, Zhang Y, Hu JK, Daniele SG, Hou X, Yang Z, Asara JM, Hu GF, Farmer SR, Hu MG. CDK6 inhibits de novo lipogenesis in white adipose tissues but not in the liver. Nat Commun. 2024 Feb 05; 15(1):1091. PMID: 38316780.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/18/2023

    Santos KBNH, Knobl P, Henriques F, Lopes MA, Franco FO, Bueno LL, Farmer SR, Batista ML. Pathological beige remodeling induced by cancer cachexia depends on the disease severity and involves mainly the trans-differentiation of mature white adipocytes. bioRxiv. 2023 Sep 18. PMID: 37781595.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/26/2023

    Desevin K, Cortez BN, Lin JZ, Lama D, Layne MD, Farmer SR, Rabhi N. Adrenergic Reprogramming of Preexisting Adipogenic Trajectories Steer Naïve Mural Cells Toward Beige Differentiation. bioRxiv. 2023 Aug 26. PMID: 37662295.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/16/2023

    Hu AJ, Li W, Pathak A, Hu GF, Hou X, Farmer SR, Hu MG. CDK6 is essential for mesenchymal stem cell proliferation and adipocyte differentiation. Front Mol Biosci. 2023; 10:1146047. PMID: 37664186.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 114 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University

Websites

Education

  • National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), PhD
  • University of Liverpool, BSc

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