Lisa A. Lesniewski

About

Lisa Lesniewski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying vascular and metabolic dysfunction and disease with advancing age, as well as how these conditions are exacerbated by overweight and obesity. Her laboratory investigates the effects of aging and obesity on adipose tissue and its vasculature, recognizing adipose tissue as an endocrine organ that plays a central role in metabolic dysfunction in obesity. The lab explores how aging and obesity lead to dysfunction in adipose tissue and its associated vasculature, particularly examining the roles of telomere dysfunction, cellular senescence, and dysregulated signaling through the small GTPase ARF6.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Cell biology
• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Gerontology
• Endocrinology
• Cancer research
• Intensive care medicine

Selected publications

• Mechanisms and consequences of endothelial cell senescence

  Nature Reviews Cardiology · 2022 · 432 citations

  DOI

• Senolytic drugs, dasatinib and quercetin, attenuate adipose tissue inflammation, and ameliorate metabolic function in old age

  Aging Cell · 2023 · 263 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Aging results in an elevated burden of senescent cells, senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), and tissue infiltration of immune cells contributing to chronic low-grade inflammation and a host of age-related diseases. Recent evidence suggests that the clearance of senescent cells alleviates chronic inflammation and its associated dysfunction and diseases. However, the effect of this intervention on metabolic function in old age remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that dasa…

  DOI

• Endothelial cell telomere dysfunction induces senescence and results in vascular and metabolic impairments

  Aging Cell · 2023-05-31 · 60 citations

  articleOpen access

  In advanced age, increases in oxidative stress and inflammation impair endothelial function, which contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). One plausible source of this oxidative stress and inflammation is an increase in the abundance of senescent endothelial cells. Cellular senescence is a cell cycle arrest that occurs in response to various damaging stimuli. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that advanced age results in endothelial cell telomere dysfunction…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ramadan intermittent fasting is associated with ameliorated inflammatory markers and improved plasma sphingolipids/ceramides in subjects with obesity: lipidomics analysis

  Scientific Reports · 2023-10-13 · 37 citations

  articleOpen access

  Intermittent fasting (IF) is associated with enormous metabolic alterations that underpin its diverse health effects. Changes in lipid metabolism, particularly ceramides, and other sphingolipids, are among the most notable of these alterations. This study investigated the lipidomic alterations associated with 29-30 days of Ramadan diurnal intermittent fasting (RIF) in metabolically healthy overweight and obese subjects. A prospective cohort of 57 overweight and obese adults (70% males, 38.4 ± 11…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Endothelial cell‐specific reduction in mTOR ameliorates age‐related arterial and metabolic dysfunction

  Aging Cell · 2023-11-28 · 19 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Systemic inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) delays aging and many age-related conditions including arterial and metabolic dysfunction. However, the mechanisms and tissues involved in these beneficial effects remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that activation of S6K, a downstream target of mTOR, is increased in arteries with advancing age, and that this occurs preferentially in the endothelium compared with the vascular smooth muscle. Induced endothelial cell-specifi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R21AG033755

  NIH · $332k · 2013

• NIH Grant R01AG048366

  NIH · $1.7M · 2022

• NIH Grant F32DK072815

  NIH · $44k · 2006

Frequent coauthors

• Anthony J. Donato

  Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center

  371 shared

• Ashley E. Walker

  University of Oregon

  109 shared

• Dean Y. Li

  85 shared

• Weiquan Zhu

  University of Utah

  65 shared

• Grant D. Henson

  University of Oregon

  61 shared

• Kirk R. Thomas

  Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

  56 shared

• Ling Jing

  Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital

  55 shared

• Christopher C. Gibson

  Recursion (United States)

  52 shared

Labs

• TVP LabPI

Education

• Ph.D.

  University of Utah

• M.A.

  University of Utah

Similar researchers at University of Utah

• D. Walter Wrayh-63
• Mark A. Supianoh-54