Dr. Farina Sultan is a biologist with a keen interest in understanding energy balance in various physiological and pathological conditions. Since energy is central to all biological processes, its regulation is important in directing physiological processes, and any perturbation in metabolism may result in a diseased condition. In her PhD, she identified the role of fatty acid metabolism during the physiological pigmentation process, and the fatty acid pathway as a good target to prevent post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH). In her postdoctoral research, she screened for genes involved in metabolic regulation in adipocytes and muscles during starvation.

Currently, the lab we are working on two diseases – obesity and skin pigmentation.

Interest in metabolism derives to do research on obesity, which is excessive fat accumulation by adipocytes and chronic low-grade inflammation affecting peripheral tissues like muscles and the liver. Clinically, the treatment of obesity is a challenging task and is not very successful due to the associated side effects and weight regain after the removal of the therapy. A need to revisit the current treatment regime and identify natural molecules and plant based products will hold the future of obesity therapeutics.

Skin pigmentation disorders are crucial to understand because of the high prevalence in Indian subcontinent, their impact on quality of life, and their potential link to underlying systemic diseases. Metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes may causes hyper-pigmentation patches on neck. Lab work revolve around a keen interest to understand how these metabolic disorders can impact skin pigmentation and identifying novel natural products for targeting skin pigmentation disorders.