Samantha Laber
Postgraduate Student
BSc Biomedical Sciences (Physiology) from the University of Aberdeen
My research areas of interest are primarily the genetics of metabolism and obesity. In Prof Juleen Zierath’s lab at the Karolinska Institute I studied the epigenetics of obesity and diabetes. For my doctoral studies I joined Prof Roger Cox’s lab at MRC Harwell, where I am working on the FTO locus. SNPs in FTO intron 1 and 2 are strongly associated with human BMI. I am currently investigating the function and regulation of genes within the FTO locus specifically in adipocyte precursors with the aim to decipher the mechanisms by which these genes affect metabolism.