Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Tobias Walther is professor of Molecular Metabolism, Executive Director of the Harvard Chan School of Public Health Analytics Center (ChAMP), Director of the Center on Causes and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. After obtaining his Ph.D. at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Dr. Walther did his postdoctoral training under Peter Walter at UCSF. Dr. Walther went on to lead labs at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and the Yale School of Medicine. In 2014, Dr. Walter established a joint laboratory with Dr. Robert Farese, Jr. at Harvard.

Research

The Farese-Walther laboratory focuses on how cells detect changes in membrane lipids and respond to these changes by regulating their metabolism and cell biology. Current projects include investigating the mechanism underlying neutral lipid storage and the cell biology of cytosolic lipid droplets. Other areas of focus include studying the regulation of lipid homeostasis and how it contributes to physiology and disease.