An observational study in Adipose Tissue, Brown, Adipose Tissue and Obesity, sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-31.
Sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · Observational
Brown fat is a type of fat, found in both children and adults, which can produce heat and regulate the body's metabolism and energy use. White fat is the more common type of fat which is used to store extra calories. Understanding more about differences between brown and white fat may allow us to develop new approaches to improve the body's metabolism.
The overarching goal of this study, is to map fat (adipose) tissue differences in humans. The investigators will probe multiple aspects of fat cell (adipocyte) identity by integrating quantitative chemical imaging, single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (sc and snRNAseq), and site-specific collection of adipocytes and adipocyte precursors.
Deidentified data from these studies will be submitted to the Human Cell Atlas. The investigators anticipate that these studies will ultimately increase understanding of mechanisms by which fat (adipose) tissue regulates systemic metabolism (energy transformation in the body), and promotes risk for metabolic disease. Knowledge gained from this research may be used to set the stage for disease-specific analyses, and aid in the development of personalized medicine for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
6,296 studies on the registry are indexed under Obesity; 1,692 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 40 is below the median of 135 across 1,283 observational studies indexed under Obesity.
Browse Obesity studies →Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is the lead sponsor of 560 studies on the registry; 80 are open to participants now.
Of its 75 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 61 (81%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Participants planning a procedure will be recruited from clinical practices of Dr. Andrew White, Dr. Peter Mowschenson, and Dr. Per-Olof Hasselgren at BIDMC.
1. Healthy participants between age 18 and 75 years undergoing planned clinically indicated procedure at BIDMC.
Exclusion Criteria:
Individuals undergoing abdominal surgery or radiologically-guided biopsies for clinical indications will be recruited prior to the planned procedures.
Procedure: Fat biopsy · Diagnostic Test: Blood sampling · Genetic: Blood sample for DNA analysis
The fat biopsy is performed during a scheduled procedure at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Routine preoperative procedures will be followed, including local anesthesia (numbing a particular region of the body) or general anesthesia (being put to sleep). Adipose tissue will be sampled from different depots depending on the procedure. For example, the surgeon will collect adipose tissue from the neck and supraclavicular depots from cervical spine, thyroid, and parathyroid procedures; perinephric fat from adrenalectomies, omental fat from abdominal procedures, and paraspinal fat from lumbar spine procedures. Up to 5 pieces of fat tissue weighing about three to six grams will be removed. All other aspects of the surgical procedure will proceed as planned. Samples will be prepared for subsequent laboratory analysis.
A blood sample will be collected in the fasting state either during preoperative testing or in the preoperative area on the day of planned procedure for measurement of adipose functional markers (leptin, adiponectin) and insulin resistance (insulin, C-peptide), and measures of glycemia (glucose, hemoglobin A1c).
Targeted resequencing of DNA to identify variants associated with adipose phenotypes will be performed.
Collect human brown and white adipose tissue to prepare progenitor and differentiated cells for single nucleus RNA analysis.
Adipose tissue biopsy samples will be processed for single-nucleus RNA analysis of gene expression.
Time frame: March 2022
Collect human brown and white adipose tissue to prepare progenitor and differentiated cells for Raman spectroscopy.
Adipose tissue biopsy samples will be processed for Raman spectroscopy analysis.
Time frame: March 2022
Collect human brown and white adipose tissue to prepare cells for ex vivo differentiation
Adipose tissue biopsy samples will be processed for ex vivo differentiation.
Time frame: March 2022
Insulin resistance
Insulin resistance of participants, assessed by homeostatic model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), will be analyzed and summarized.
Time frame: March 2022
Hemoglobin A1c
Hemoglobin A1c levels for participants will be analyzed and summarized.
Time frame: March 2022
Fasting glucose levels
Fasting glucose levels for participants will be analyzed and summarized.
Time frame: March 2022
Body mass index (BMI)
Weight and height will be combined to report BMI in kg/m\^2. BMI of participants will be analyzed and summarized.
Time frame: March 2022
Demographic characteristics
Demographic characteristics of participants will be analyzed and summarized.
Time frame: March 2022
DNA analysis
DNA will be isolated and stored from blood samples. If specific genes are differentially regulated as a function of metabolic state or anatomical location of biopsy, locus-specific or genome-wide genotyping may be performed to assess potential regulatory single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP).
Time frame: March 2022
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: Yes — Deidentified participant data will be shared with other researchers with permission of local institutional review boards via the Human Cell Atlas database.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf, Csr, Analytic code
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center