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Anita Öst

Senior Associate Professor, Head of Division

Many factors contribute to proper embryogenesis. By studying the variations in these early life events, I hope to uncover insights that will lead to new treatments for obesity and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes.

Exploring Diet, RNA, and Developmental Impact of Sperm

During my PhD, I investigated why adipocytes from type 2 diabetic patients are insulin-resistant. My interest was sparked by reports from the Dutch Hunger Winter, which suggested that parental starvation increases the risk of their children developing obesity and type 2 diabetes as adults. Currently, my research projects focus on studying diet-driven sperm modifications across species, understanding the role of small RNA in male fertility, and exploring how small RNA in sperm might influence embryo development.

Selected publications

Dietary Sugar Shifts Mitochondrial Metabolism and Small RNA Biogenesis in Sperm

Tidskrift: Antioxidants and Redox Signaling (2023)
Författare: Rashmi Ramesh, Signe Skog, Lovisa Örkenby, Unn Örtegren Kugelberg, Daniel Nätt, Anita Öst
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Human sperm displays rapid responses to diet

Tidskrift: PLoS biology
Författare: Daniel Nätt, Unn Örtegren Kugelberg, Elizabeth Nedstrand, Stefan Zalavary, Pontus Henriksson, Carola Nijm, Julia Jaderquist, Johanna Sandborg, Eva Carlsson Flinke, Rashmi Ramesh, Lovisa Örkenby, Filip Appelkvist, Thomas Lingg, Marie Löf, Anita Öst
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Paternal Diet Defines Offspring Chromatin State and Intergenerational Obesity

Tidskrift: CELL (2014)
Författare:  Anita Öst, Adelheid Lempradl, Eduard Casas, Melanie Weigert, Theodor Tiko, Merdin Deniz, Lorena Pantano, Ulrike Boenisch, Pavel M Itskov mfl. 
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News

A big building in sunset, there is warm light coming from the windows, on the ground outside there is a bit of snow.

SEK 49 million from Swedish Research Council

Six LiU researchers will receive almost SEK 49 million from the Swedish Research Council’s latest round of funding. The projects concern areas such as epigenetics, mega coal-fired power plants, rehabilitation in conflict zones and tuberculosis.
illustration of sperm and egg

Diet has rapid effects on sperm quality

Sperm are influenced by diet, and the effects arise rapidly. This is the conclusion of a study in which healthy young men were fed a diet rich in sugar. The study, published in PLOS Biology, gives new insight into the function of sperm.
Mikroskoparbete i epigenetik

High-sugar diet in fathers can lead to obese offspring

A new study shows that increasing sugar in the diet of male fruit flies for just one or two days before mating can cause obesity in their offspring through alterations that affect gene expression in the embryo.

Research

Bananfluga närbild

Molecular Regulation of Epigenetic Inheritance of Metabolic Disease

New evidence suggests that metabolic memories, set by the parents, can affect eating behavior and obesity in future generations.

Video about the research 

Video

Fruit flies helping to solve the riddle of obesity

Our weight is governed by our lifestyle and our genes. But new research at Linköping University has shown that the lifestyle of parents – before children are conceived – appears to impact their offspring’s weight. Anita Öst, docent at Linköping University, is also a Wallenberg Academy Fellow.

Education

Metabolism - a plainsplain Youtube channel

These video clips are produced for teaching at the Medical programme at the Faculty of medicine and health sciences at Linköping university.

To the Youtube channel!

Full publication list

2023

Signe Skog, Lovisa Örkenby, Unn Örtegren Kugelberg, Anita Öst, Daniel Nätt (2023) Seqpac: a framework for sRNA-seq analysis in R using sequence-based counts Bioinformatics, Vol. 39, Article btad144 Continue to DOI
Rashmi Ramesh, Signe Skog, Lovisa Örkenby, Unn Örtegren (Kugelberg), Daniel Nätt, Anita Öst (2023) Dietary Sugar Shifts Mitochondrial Metabolism and Small RNA Biogenesis in Sperm Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, Vol. 38, p. 1167-1183 Continue to DOI
Lovisa Örkenby, Signe Skog, Helen Ekman, Alessandro Gozzo, Unn Örtegren Kugelberg, Rashmi Ramesh, Srivathsa Magadi, Gianluca Zambanini, Anna Nordin, Claudio Cantù, Daniel Nätt, Anita Öst (2023) Stress-sensitive dynamics of miRNAs and Elba1 in Drosophila embryogenesis Molecular Systems Biology, Vol. 19, Article e11148 Continue to DOI

2021

Unn Örtegren Kugelberg, Daniel Nätt, Signe Skog, Claudia Kutter, Anita Öst (2021) 5 XP sRNA-seq: efficient identification of transcripts with and without 5 phosphorylation reveals evolutionary conserved small RNA RNA Biology, Vol. 18, p. 1588-1599 Continue to DOI

2020

Daniel Nätt, Anita Öst (2020) Male reproductive health and intergenerational metabolic responses from a small RNA perspective Journal of Internal Medicine, Vol. 288, p. 305-320 Continue to DOI

2019

Daniel Nätt, Unn Örtegren Kugelberg, Eduard Casas, Elizabeth Nedstrand, Stefan Zalavary, Pontus Henriksson, Carola Nijm, Julia Jaderquist, Johanna Sandborg, Eva Flinke Carlsson, Rashmi Ramesh, Lovisa Örkenby, Filip Appelkvist, Thomas Lingg, Nicola Guzzi, Cristian Bellodi, Marie Löf, Tanya Vavouri, Anita Öst (2019) Human sperm displays rapid responses to diet PLoS biology, Vol. 17, Article e3000559 Continue to DOI

Coworkers

Photo of Anna Asratian

Anna Asratian

PhD student

Alessandro Gozzo

PhD student

Photo of Kajsa Karlsson

Kajsa Karlsson

PhD student

Photo of Rashmi Ramesh

Rashmi Ramesh

Principal Research Engineer

Photo of Signe Skog

Signe Skog

PhD student

Photo of Lovisa Örkenby

Lovisa Örkenby

Postdoc

Photo of Unn Örtegren Kugelberg

Unn Örtegren Kugelberg

Principal Research Engineer

Organisation

The Division of Cell and Neurobiology (CNB)

The Division of Cell and Neurobiology is a dynamic and innovative environment where we conduct research and teaching on both the structure and function of various cells as well as the nervous system and sensory organs.

Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV)

What characterizes the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV) is the wide breadth of research and education. BKV is one of the largest departments at LiU with affiliation mainly to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Five people in a laboratory.

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (MEDFAK)

The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences conducts research and education within medicine, healthcare and public health.

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