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Dawn L Brasaemle
Associate Professor
 Nutritional Sciences
Thompson 130
96 Lipman Drive
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732-932-6524
Fax: 732-932-6837
Email: brasaemle@aesop.rutgers.edu
Website: nutrition.rutgers.edu/faculty/brasaemle.htm

Expertise Summary
  The laboratory conducts pioneering research investigating the cell biology of lipid droplets. Lipid droplets are uncharacterized "organelles" that are found in nearly all mammalian cells, and serve a particularly vital function in adipose tissue where they hold the body's major energy reserves as triacylglycerols. Obesity is characterized by the excessive storage of triacylglycerols in adipose tissue and is a growing health problem leading to the increased prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the human population.

Despite a need for new therapeutic options to control obesity, there is a paucity of information regarding the intracellular mechanisms that regulate fat storage and release in adipose tissue. Particularly lacking are mechanistic studies addressing the protein component of lipid droplets. These proteins are situated at the surfaces of the droplets and likely serve as gate keepers controlling the flux of lipids into and out of the storage organelles.

International Expertise
Molecular biologic approaches

Research Projects
  • STRUCTURE/FUNCTION STUDIES OF PERILIPIN A

    • Selected Publications
    Perilipin A increases triacylglycerol storage by decreasing the rate of triacylglycerol hydrolysis.
      Journal: Journal of Biological Chemistry
     Authors: Brasaemle, D. L., Rubin, B., Harten, I. A., Gruia-Gray, J., Kimmel, A. R., and Londos, C
    Volume: 275    Pages: 38486-38493
    The lipolytic stimulation of 3T3-L1 adipocytes promotes the translocation of cytosolic hormone-sensitive lipase to the surfaces of lipid storage droplets.
      Journal: Biochimica Biophysica Acta
     Authors: Brasaemle, D. L., Levin, D. M., Adler-Wails, D. C., and Londos, C
    Volume: 1483    Pages: 251-262
    TIP47 associates with lipid storage droplets.
      Journal: Journal of Biological Chemistry
     Authors: Wolins, N. E., Rubin, B., and Brasaemle, D. L

     

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