Research Interests

Human physiology and experimental medicine

Obesity and its related metabolic diseases (i.e., type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hepatic steatosis, etc) are major public health problems worldwide. Although an armamentarium of pharmacologic approaches is available for the treatment of those conditions, many patients fail to achieve their treatment goals suggesting that there is a need for more effective approaches for the prevention and treatment those conditions.

I have a longstanding interest in understanding the mechanisms involved in the regulation of metabolic function and energy homeostasis in people. The overall goal of my research is two-fold to: 1) understand the mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of the obesity related metabolic complications and 2) develop and evaluate interventions (nutritional, lifestyle, pharmacological, etc.) aiming to improve metabolic function and determine their underlying mechanisms. My primary research involves the use of both basic and clinical research tools to evaluate cellular, regional, and whole-body substrate metabolism to test physiologically and clinically relevant hypotheses in people in vivo.

Our current research focuses on:

• understanding the role of the brown and white adipose tissue function in health and disease
• examining the role of the temporal distribution of food intake (chrononutrition) on cardiometabolic health in high-risk populations for cardiometabolic disease

I am always happy to hear from enthusiastic PhD and postdoctoral candidates with strong background in nutrition, exercise physiology, metabolic science. 

Selected Publications

Xiao H, Bozi LHM, Sun Y, Riley CL, […], Chondronikola M, McAllister FE, Van Bruggen N, Huttlin EL, Spiegelman BM, Churchill GA, Gygi SP, Chouchani ET. Architecture of the outbred brown fat proteome defines regulators of metabolic physiology. Cell. 2022 Nov 2:S0092-8674(22)01318-6.

Petersen MC, Gallop MR, Flores Ramos S, Zarrinpar A, Broussard JL, Chondronikola M, Chaix A, Klein S. Complex Physiology and Clinical Implications of Time-restricted Eating. Physiol Rev. 2022 Oct 1;102(4):1991-2034.

Zhu S, Surampudi P, Field NT, Chondronikola M. Meal Timing and Glycemic Control During Pregnancy- Is There a Link? Nutrients 2021, 13(10), 3379

Zhu S, Surampudi P, Roshanravan B, Chondronikola M.  Intermittent Fasting as a Nutrition Approach against Obesity and Metabolic Disease. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2020;23(6):387-394.

Chondronikola M, Sarkar S. Total-body PET Imaging: A New Frontier for the Assessment of Metabolic Disease and Obesity. PET Clin. 2021;16(1):75-87.

Smith G, Shankaran M, Yoshino M, Schweitzer G, Chondronikola M, Beals JW, Okunade A, Patterson BW, Nyangau E, Field T, Sirlin C, Talukdar S, Hellerstein MK, Klein L. Insulin resistance drives hepatic de novo lipogenesis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. J Clin Invest 130: 2020.

Yamaguchi S, Franczyk1 MP, Chondronikola M, Qi N, Gunawardana SC, Stromsdorfer KL, Porter LC, Wozniak DF, Sasaki Y, Rensing N, Wong M, Piston DW, Klein S, Yoshino J. Adipose tissue NAD+ biosynthesis is required for regulating adaptive thermogenesis and whole-body energy homeostasis in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(47):23822-23828.

Porter C, Herndon DN, Chondronikola M, Chao T, Annamalai P, Bhattarai N, Saraf MK, Capek KD, Reidy PT, Daquinag AC, Kolonin MG, Rasmussen BB, Borsheim E, Toliver-Kinsky T, Sidossis LS. Human and mouse brown adipose tissue mitochondria have comparable UCP1 function. Cell Metab. 2016;24(2):246-55.

Chondronikola M, Volpi E, Børsheim E, Porter C, Saraf MK, Annamalai P, Yfanti C, Chao T, Wong D, Shinoda K, Labbe SM, Hurren NM, Cesani F, Kajimura S, Sidossis LS. Brown adipose tissue activation is linked to distinct systemic effects on lipid metabolism in humans. Cell Metab. 2016;23(6):1200-6.

Chondronikola M, Volpi E, Børsheim E, Chao T, Porter C, Annamalai P, Yfanti C, Labbe SM, Hurren NM, Cesani F, Sidossis LS. Brown adipose tissue is linked to a distinct thermoregulatory response to mild cold in people. Front. Physiol. 2016;7:129.

Sidossis LS, Porter C, Saraf MK, Børsheim E, Radhakrishnan RS, Chao T, Ali A, Chondronikola M, Mlcak R, Finnerty Celeste C, et al. Browning of subcutaneous white adipose tissue in humans after severe adrenergic stress. Cell Metab. 22(2):219-27.

Chondronikola M, Annamalai P, Chao T, Porter C, Saraf M, Cessani F, and Sidossis LS. A percutaneous needle biopsy technique for sampling the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue depot of humans. Int J Obesity (London). 2015;39(10):1561-4. PMID: 25920777

Chondronikola M, Volpi E, Børsheim E, Porter C, Annamalai P, Enerback S, Lidell M, Saraf M, Labbe S, Hurren N, Yfanti C, Chao T, Andersen C, Cesani F, Hawkins H, Sidossis L. Brown adipose tissue improves whole body glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in humans. Diabetes. 2014;63(12):4089-99.