Current Lab Members

Katsu Funai, PhD

Dr. Funai is the lab head and an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology. He is a metabolic scientist with extensive training in mitochondrial bioenergetics, exercise physiology, and lipid mass spectrometry. His interests in lipids began during his postdoctoral fellowship with Clay Semenkovich at the Washington University in St. Louis where he gained an appreciation of the diversity and complexity of intracellular lipid biochemistry. Since starting his lab in 2013, many of the works conducted in his laboratory were based on an idea that the subcellular localization of a lipid molecule is an important identity that defines their biological functions. As hydrophobic molecules, lipids do not spontaneously diffuse without active transport mechanisms, allowing organelles to maintain distinct subcellular microenvironments and accommodate compartmentalized cellular tasks. During lipid overload such that can occurs with metabolic diseases, we hypothesize that a high level of lipid influx can challenge organelle homeostasis leading to pathology.

Katsu is committed to training the next generation of scientists, and to provide necessary training and resources for them to reach their potentials. In the 12 years as a PI, trainees in his lab have acquired 82 research awards (53 extramural) including NIH NRSAs, post- and pre-doctoral fellowships from the American Heart Association and other private foundations. On average, PhD students in Dr. Funai's lab defended in 4.4 years with an average of 2.4 first-author papers. They moved onto a variety of career paths including tenure-track faculty positions at medical centers or teaching universities, and in industry as scientists at large pharmaceutical companies or CEO/President of startup companies.

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