James Lo

James Lo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Weill Cornell Medicine's Graduate School of Medical Sciences. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of metabolic stress adaptation in diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disorders, with emphasis on interorgan communication between adipose tissue, pancreas, and heart.

He earned a Bachelor’s in biochemistry and combined M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His clinical training included internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and cardiovascular fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, followed by postdoctoral work in adipose biology with Bruce Spiegelman at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Lo’s lab investigates adipose-pancreatic crosstalk in type 2 diabetes, discovering that the adipokine adipsin prevents beta cell failure and identifying DUSP26 phosphatase as a target to halt beta cell death. Current projects examine adipose tissue dysfunction, pancreatic beta cell subtypes, and metabolic impacts of SARS-CoV-2 using single-cell omics and transgenic models.

• Medical Scientist Training Fellowship
• Student Marshall, University of Chicago
• Gilead Sciences Research Scholar
• Feldstein Medical Foundation Award
• Irma T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award
• American Society for Clinical Investigation (Elected Member)

He directs a multidisciplinary team of postdocs, PhD students, and technicians at the Belfer Research Building, utilizing spatial metabolomics and human specimen analysis to develop novel diagnostics and therapeutics for metabolic diseases.