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Stefano Romeo

Professor/ Specialized Physician

Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine
Telephone
+46 768-67 26 34
Mail
Stefano.Romeo@wlab.gu.se
Visiting address
Wallenberglab, Bruna stråket 16, SU/S
41345 Göteborg
Postal address
Wallenberglab, Bruna stråket 16, SU/S
41345 Göteborg

About Stefano Romeo

Professor, Senior Consultant, Principal Investigator, MD, PhD

Current Positions: Stefano Romeo is Professor in Molecular and Clinical Medicine at the Institute of Medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Senior Consultant in Endocrinology at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. He is also a Faculty Member of the Unit of Human Nutrition at the Department of Medical and Surgical Science, University Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy.

Education: He moved to the Wallenberg Laboratory in 2011 after an Italian PhD fellowship carried out at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (2006-2009), Dallas, USA, and a Clinical Lectureship at the University of Cambridge, UK (2009-2011). He earned his Medical Degree at Campus Biomedico University in Rome in 2001, Italy and completed his residency in Endocrinology and Metabolic Disease in 2006 at Sapienza University of Rome.

Research Focus: Prof. Romeo’s research focus is the role of genetic variants in metabolic disorders such as fatty liver disease (FLD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). His research field ranges from genetic association studies in large cohorts to molecular genetics and characterization of human mutations. In the field of FLD, among other works, Prof. Romeo identified its most robust genetic determinants in the PNPLA3 and MBOAT7 genes; generated an easy-to-use multilineage 3D in vitro model of FLD; and performed the 1st proof-of-concept study of precision medicine against FLD in mice. Moreover, he recently identified a genetic variant in the PSD3 gene protecting against FLD and, using liver organoids from human donors and mouse models, he has shown that PSD3 downregulation is beneficial against the disease, highlighting its potential as a gene target to treat FLD. In the field of CVD, Prof. Romeo recently generated an algorithm, empowered by machine learning, to easily perform diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH); showed that lipoprotein(a) is an independent risk factor for CVD in those with FH; and identified and characterized new mutations responsible for a severe hypertriglyceridemia in the LPL gene increasing the risk for CVD.

Clinical Activity: Since 2014, he has been Director of the Lipid Clinic at the Department of Cardiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The Lipid Clinic focuses on genetic testing and treatment of severe forms of hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. In the Lipid Clinic he set up the genetic screening for Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and a program for family screening for Gothenburg and the entire Västra Götaland region.

Honours: Prof. Romeo received a prize from the International Laureate Chair in Lille France in 2023, the Leif Groop Award for outstanding Diabetes Research in 2021, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Academy fellowship in Medicine in 2017, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Excellence Project for Young Researchers within Endocrinology in 2014 and the Young Investigator Award from the European Atherosclerosis Society in 2008. Moreover, he has been elected as Executive Committee Member of the European Atherosclerosis Society in 2021.

Group Members

Laboratory Group members:

  • Rosellina Mancina, PhD, Researcher
  • Ester Ciociola, PhD, Researcher
  • Kavitha Sasidharan, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Oveis Jamialahmadi, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Tanmoy Dutta, PhD student
  • Kristina Björkman, Research Assistant

Lipid Clinic:

  • Carola Gustafsson, Research assistant
  • Lina Håkansson, Lipid Nurse
  • Carlo Pirazzi, MD, PhD, Resident in Cardiology
  • Joakim Sandstedt, MD, PhD, Resident in Clinical Chemistry

Key publications