Steinhauser Lab

Matthew Steinhauser, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Cardiology

Our lab is interested in molecular mechanisms of aging-related cardiometabolic diseases.

Steinhauser Lab

Lab Focus

My laboratory is broadly interested in how metabolism is altered by and contributes to disease. Within this context, the lab is focused in three inter-related areas: (1) We study how systemic metabolic function is modulated by local cellular and molecular derangements in adipose tissue arising during development, aging, or in contexts of energy imbalance. (2) We have developed novel stable isotope- based methods to study metabolism. This includes a new quantitative imaging platform called multi- isotope imaging mass spectrometry (MIMS). We have established MIMS as a powerful tool for interrogation of cell turnover and metabolism, in situ, at sub-organelle resolution with studies in model organisms and more recently with first-in-human studies. (3) We are undertaking a major effort to define the molecular and metabolic responses to physiological stressors of relevance to aging biology that drive resiliency.

What question I’d like to answer

Is there a master molecular mechanism that enables some humans to age with resiliency?
Faculty Bio

Matthew completed his undergraduate and medical degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He trained in Internal Medicine and was a Chief Resident at Columbia University Medical Center. He moved to Boston in 2006, where he completed a Cardiovascular Clinical Fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, followed by postdoctoral research training in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Lee. Matthew started his laboratory in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Genetics in 2013. In 2019, he relocated the laboratory to the recently founded Aging Institute at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. As part of his role in the Aging Institute, Matthew directs the newly founded Center for Human Integrative Physiology. He also sees patients with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.

Read more: Department of Medicine Faculty Profile

Selected Publications

Kim SM, Lun M, Wang M, Senyo SE, Guillermier C, Patwari P, Steinhauser ML. Loss of white adipose hyperplastic potential is associated with enhanced susceptibility to insulin resistance. Cell Metab. 2014 Dec 2;20(6):1049-58. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2014.10.010. Epub 2014 Nov 20. PMID: 25456741; PMCID: PMC4715375.

Fazeli PK, Lun M, Kim SM, Bredella MA, Wright S, Zhang Y, Lee H, Catana C, Klibanski A, Patwari P, Steinhauser ML. FGF21 and the late adaptive response to starvation in humans. J Clin Invest. 2015 Nov 3;125(12):4601-11. doi: 10.1172/JCI83349. PMID: 26529252; PMCID: PMC4665770.

Zhang Y, Federation AJ, Kim S, O’Keefe JP, Lun M, Xiang D, Brown JD, Steinhauser ML. Targeting nuclear receptor NR4A1-dependent adipocyte progenitor quiescence promotes metabolic adaptation to obesity. J Clin Invest. 2018 Nov 1;128(11):4898-4911. doi: 10.1172/JCI98353. Epub 2018 Oct 2. PMID: 30277475; PMCID: PMC6205397.

Steinhauser ML, Bailey AP, Senyo SE, Guillermier C, Perlstein TS, Gould AP, Lee RT, Lechene CP. Multi-isotope imaging mass spectrometry quantifies stem cell division and metabolism. Nature. 2012 Jan 15;481(7382):516-9. doi: 10.1038/nature10734. PMID: 22246326; PMCID: PMC3267887.

Guillermier C, Fazeli PK, Kim S, Lun M, Zuflacht JP, Milian J, Lee H, Francois-Saint-Cyr H, Horreard F, Larson D, Rosen ED, Lee RT, Lechene CP, Steinhauser ML. Imaging mass spectrometry demonstrates age-related decline in human adipose plasticity. JCI Insight. 2017 Mar 9;2(5):e90349. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.90349. PMID: 28289709; PMCID: PMC5333969.

Current Lab Members

Naveen Kumar, PhD  – Post-doctoral Fellow
Tania Amorim, PhD – Post-doctoral Fellow
Natalie David, BS – Study Coordinator/Research Assistant

Research Support