Intermuscular fat accumulation is a defining feature of ageing, obesity, and metabolic disease, yet its predominant cellular origins and regulatory logic remain poorly understood. By uncovering its governing principles, this project will advance fundamental insight into fatty muscle degeneration and possibly open new avenues for targeted therapeutic intervention.

Combining multimodal single-nucleus sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and targeted functional experiments, we will uncover how vascular signals instruct precursor cell fate. By integrating multimodal human data with mechanistic validation in primary cells, we will identify key pathways that drive fat formation in muscles and that possibly represent potential targets for intervention.