Collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet - 2022

Jean-Baptiste Potier, PhD student at CeeD and ILONOV, had the opportunity to travel to Stockholm in Sweden, in order to learn a new scientific technic for his PhD project at the Karolinska Institutet.

His PhD project focuses on the study of the crosstalk between skeletal muscle and the liver, in the context of metabolic diseases and more precisely, the impact of myokines, proteins that are secreted by skeletal muscle during physical activity, and their potential to prevent metabolic related liver diseases. The main diseases he focusses on are non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) and its evolution, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). These two diseases are caused by an abnormal accumulation of fat inside the hepatocytes, the main cell type of the liver. This phenomenon, called steatosis, can negatively affect the metabolism of liver and can evolve toward inflammation and fibrosis. The final stage of the affection, for which there is yet no approved medication except liver transplantation, is cirrhosis.

Between January and February 2022, he had the chance to be welcomed by a research group from the Karolinska Institutet, a prestigious and recognized research institution. The aim of the visit was to learn a 3-dimensional cell culture model, called spheroids, using human liver hepatocytes that allow studying the mechanism and new potential treatment for metabolic liver diseases, such as hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. Due to its 3D shape, this recent model closely reproduces the in vivo environment and cell communication.