Fettvävnaden är en viktig regulator för ämnesomsättningen och uppvisar en komplex cellulär arkitektur som påverkar olika fysiologiska och patologiska processer. Dess heterogena natur är relativt ostrukturerad och består huvudsakligen av bräckliga feta adipocyter och immunceller. Dessa komplikationer försvårar studier av mikroarkitekturen - som är avgörande för att förstå dess beteende - vilket nyligen har gynnats av teknik med rumslig upplösning, som möjliggör studier av genomiska profiler samtidigt som informationen från vävnaden bevaras. I detta arbete undersöks kromatindynamiken i fettvävnad med hjälp av den nyutvecklade Spatial Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin med sekvensering med hög genomströmning (Spatial ATAC-seq). Med fokus på subkutan vit fettvävnad samlades prover in från en individ som led av fetma före och fem år efter en bariatrisk operation för att studera förändringar i samband med betydande viktnedgång. Studien omfattar detaljer för både experimentella protokoll och avancerade beräkningsverktyg för dataanalys, inklusive användning av en utvecklingsversion av Semla-paketet för att integrera data om rumslig tillgänglighet och kromatintillgänglighet. Analysen visade på en mångsidig cellulär arkitektur och distinkta genomiska egenskaper i vävnaden, vilket framhävde förekomsten av specifika celltyper som AdipoLEP-liknande adipocyter och infiltrerande immunceller. Denna studie visade att det är möjligt att tillämpa Spatial ATAC-seq för att undersöka de molekylära mekanismerna i fettvävnad som ligger till grund för metabol hälsa och sjukdom, särskilt i samband med fetma och viktminskning. / Adipose tissue is a critical regulator of metabolism, exhibiting a complex cellular architecture that influences various physiological and pathological processes. Its heterogeneous nature is relatively unstructured, mainly formed by fragile fatty adipocytes and immune cells. These intricacies complicate the study of its microarchitecture – crucial for understanding its behaviour – which has recently benefitted from spatially resolved technologies, that enable the study of genomic profiles while keeping the information from the tissue. This work explores the chromatin dynamics of adipose tissue using the newly developed Spatial Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high throughput sequencing (Spatial ATAC-seq). Focusing on subcutaneous white adipose tissue, samples were collected from an individual suffering from obesity before and five years after bariatric surgery to study changes associated with significant weight loss. The study comprises details for both experimental protocols and advanced computational tools for data analysis, including the use of a development version of Semla package to integrate spatial and chromatin accessibility data. The analysis revealed a diverse cellular architecture and distinct genomic features across the tissue, highlighting the presence of specific cell types such as AdipoLEP-like adipocytes and infiltrating immune cells. This study demonstrated the feasibility of applying Spatial ATAC-seq in investigating the molecular mechanisms of adipose tissue underlying metabolic health and disease, particularly in the context of obesity and weight loss.

The aim of this thesis is to optimize the design of the Fat-IBC-based communication of a novel neuroprosthetic system in which a brain-machine interface is used to control a prosthetic arm. Fat-based intra-body communication (Fat-IBC) uses the fat tissue inside the body of the bearer as a transmission medium for low-power microwaves. Future projects will use the communication system and investigate ways to control the prosthetic arm directly from the brain. The finished system was able to individually control all movable joints of multiple prosthesis prototypes using information that was received wirelessly through Fat-IBC. Simultaneous transmission in the other direction was possible, with the control data then being replaced by sensor readings from the prosthesis. All data packets were encoded with the COBS/R algorithm and the wireless communication was handled by Digi Xbee 3 radio modules using the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. The Fat-IBC communication was evaluated with the help of so-called "phantoms" which emulated the conditions of the human body fat channel. During said testing, packet loss measurements were performed for various combinations of packet sizes and time intervals between packets. The packet loss measurements showed that the typical amount of transmitted data could be handled well by the fat channel test setup. Although the transmission system was found to be well-functioning in its current state, increasing the packet size to achieve a higher granularity of the movement was perceived to be viable considering the findings from the packet loss measurements.