Welcome to the Kajimura Lab Homepage! Our lab is based in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as well as the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. We are a part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Our lab is also a member of the Metabolism Program at the Broad Institute.

We aim to understand the molecular basis of bioenergetics in health and disease, i.e., how our body controls energy balance, and how such processes go wrong in obesity, diabetes, cancer, and aging. The overarching goal is to generate a blueprint for rewiring the bioenergetic circuitry by defined factors, thereby improving metabolic health.

A particular focus in our lab is adipose tissue because it dynamically remodels the cellular composition, metabolism, and function in response to external and internal cues, including nutrition, hormonal cues, and temperature. Such metabolic adaptation in adipose tissues, involving differentiation, mitochondrial biogenesis/clearance, lipolysis/lipogenesis, and thermogenesis, plays a central role in the regulation of whole-body energy homeostasis. Conversely, a defect in the processes leads to obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and certain types of cancer.

Our team comprises multidisciplinary and international members from diverse backgrounds, including molecular biologists, biochemists, physiologists, and clinicians working together in a highly collaborative environment. The laboratory is supported by research funds from HHMI, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Pew Charitable Trust, and other private foundations.