Keren I. Hilgendorf

Keren I. Hilgendorf, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Biochemistry

Academic Office Information

keren.hilgendorf@biochem.utah.edu

Lab

Keren Hilgendorf, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah. She is also a member of the Cell Response and Regulation Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Dr. Hilgendorf received a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine and was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.

Research Statement

The Hilgendorf Lab studies the molecular mechanisms regulating adult stems cell expansion and differentiation to ensure proper tissue homeostasis, expansion, and regeneration. A major focus of the lab is to study the molecular mechanisms regulating fat tissue. We use a combination of animal models and cell culture techniques. We are particularly interested in how the primary cilium, an antenna-like signaling organelle, senses and organizes signal transduction pathways to regulate stem cell fate.

Education History

Undergraduate University of Texas at Austin
 BS
Graduate Training Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 PhD
Fellowship Stanford University
 Postdoctoral Fellow

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Lee MD, Hilgendorf K (2025). Prostaglandin E2 inhibits adipogenesis through the cilia-dependent activation of ROCK2. Journal of cell science, 138(20),
  2. Vieira RF, Sanchez SR, Arumugam M, Mower PD, Curtin MC, Jackson AE, Gallop MR, Wright J, Bowles A, Ducker GS, Hilgendorf KI, Chaix (2025). Hyperlipidemia drives tumor growth in a mouse model of obesity-accelerated breast cancer growth. Cancer & metabolism, 13(1), 39.
  3. Curtin MC, Jackson AE, Brown EA, Maschek JA, Lum D, Cox JE, Welm AL, Hilgendorf K (2025). Lean breast adipocytes secrete an oxylipin that suppresses breast cancer via ferroptosis. bioRxiv,
  4. Curtin MC, Jackson AE, Hilgendorf K (2025). Isolation and Culturing of Primary Murine Adipocytes from Lean and Obese Mice. Journal of visualized experiments, (215),
  5. Turn RE, Hilgendorf KI, Johnson CT, Han K, Aziz-Zanjani MO, Swails Bollinger S, Domizi P, Cheng R, Rabiee A, Zhu Y, Jiang Z, Asthana A, Demeter J, Svensson KJ, Bassik MC, Jackson P (2025). A genome-wide, CRISPR-based screen reveals new requirements for translation initiation and ubiquitination in driving adipogenic fate change. Genes & development, 39(19-20), 1241-1264.
  6. Verma S, Giagnocavo SD, Curtin MC, Arumugam M, Osburn-Staker SM, Wang G, Atkinson A, Nix DA, Lum DH, Cox JE, Hilgendorf K (2024). Zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein Secreted by Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Promotes Peritumoral Fibrosis. Cancer research communications, 4(7), 1655-1666.
  7. Garritson JD, Zhang J, Achenbach A, Ferhat M, Eich E, Stubben CJ, Martinez PL, Ibele AR, Hilgendorf KI, Boudina (2023). BMPER is a marker of adipose progenitors and adipocytes and a positive modulator of adipogenesis. Communications biology, 6(1), 638.
  8. Porpiglia E, Mai T, Kraft P, Holbrook CA, de Morree A, Gonzalez VD, Hilgendorf KI, Frésard L, Trejo A, Bhimaraju S, Jackson PK, Fantl WJ, Blau H (2022). Elevated CD47 is a hallmark of dysfunctional aged muscle stem cells that can be targeted to augment regeneration. Cell stem cell, 29(12), 1653-1668.e8.
  9. Hilgendorf KI, Johnson CT, Mezger A, Rice SL, Norris AM, Demeter J, Greenleaf WJ, Reiter JF, Kopinke D, Jackson P (2019). Omega-3 Fatty Acids Activate Ciliary FFAR4 to Control Adipogenesis. Cell, 179(6), 1289-1305.e21.
  10. Maynard MA, Ferretti R, Hilgendorf KI, Perret C, Whyte P, Lees J (2014). Bmi1 is required for tumorigenesis in a mouse model of intestinal cancer. Oncogene, 33(28), 3742-7.
  11. Hilgendorf KI, Leshchiner ES, Nedelcu S, Maynard MA, Calo E, Ianari A, Walensky LD, Lees J (2013). The retinoblastoma protein induces apoptosis directly at the mitochondria. Genes & development, 27(9), 1003-15.

Review

  1. Hilgendorf KI, Myers BR, Reiter J (2024). Emerging mechanistic understanding of cilia function in cellular signalling. Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology, 25(7), 555-573.
  2. Scamfer SR, Lee MD, Hilgendorf K (2022). Ciliary control of adipocyte progenitor cell fate regulates energy storage. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 10, 1083372.
  3. Hilgendorf K (2021). Primary Cilia Are Critical Regulators of White Adipose Tissue Expansion. Frontiers in physiology, 12, 769367.

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