Dr. Sabrina Gohlke
PhD
Lipedema Researcher at German Institute of Human Nutrition
Germany
Clinician Speakers, Researchers
Lipedema Researcher at German Institute of Human Nutrition
German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke
About Dr. Sabrina Gohlke
Department of Adipocyte Development and Nutrition, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke (DIfE), Germany
Dr. Sabrina Gohlke (Dr. rer. nat.) is an adipose tissue researcher at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, where she works in the Department of Adipocyte Development and Nutrition led by Prof. Tim J. Schulz. She trained as a biochemist at Freie Universität Berlin and carried out her doctoral research in affiliation with the Charité in Berlin. Her work spans the cellular and molecular biology of fat tissue, including adipocyte development, brown and beige fat, tissue aging, and the pathology of lipedema.
In collaboration with the plastic surgery team at Klinikum Ernst von Bergmann in Potsdam (Dr. Philipp Kruppa and Dr. Mojtaba Ghods), Dr. Gohlke received a 2022 Lipedema Foundation research award for a project assessing gene expression-based molecular biomarkers for lipedema diagnosis, reproducible disease staging, and personalized clinical care. She is a co-author of the influential 2023 Frontiers in Immunology study “Lipedema stage affects adipocyte hypertrophy, subcutaneous adipose tissue inflammation and interstitial fibrosis,” which demonstrated that lipedema involves stage-dependent adipocyte enlargement, progressive interstitial fibrosis in affected tissue, and a distinctive anti-inflammatory (M2-like) macrophage profile that sets it apart from obesity.
Dr. Gohlke has presented her lipedema research internationally, including at the 2023 Lipedema World Congress in Potsdam, and her broader publication record contributes to the understanding of adipose tissue biology and metabolism.