How We're Advancing Care
The Integrative Physiology and Metabolism Section has a focus on elucidating pathophysiological mechanisms in insulin resistance, obesity, and the development of type 2 diabetes, and determining how these conditions are modified by exercise, diet, and other factors.
The Kahn laboratory studies insulin action, insulin resistance, and the developmental control of adipose tissue, and investigates the relationship between insulin resistance, obesity, and environmental factors such as the gut microbiome.
The Tseng lab investigates the regulation of energy homeostasis, with a specific focus on the role of developmental signals in brown versus white adipose cells, the identification and characterization of progenitor/stem cells that give rise to different adipose depots, and the integration of central and peripheral controls on whole body energy homeostasis.
The Goodyear lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that mediate the beneficial effects of exercise on glucose homeostasis and metabolic disease. This includes studies investigating adaptations to skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, identification of novel exercise-regulated myokines and adipokines that have health-promoting effects, and the effects of maternal and paternal exercise on offspring metabolic health. Their studies utilize cell culture, animal models, and human volunteers to identify novel exercise-induced myokines and adipokines that mediate the benefits of exercise on glucose homeostasis.
The Patti laboratory investigates how environmental or nutritional risk factors influence gene expression and metabolic function in tissues critical for insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. The Patti lab also studies risk to offspring in glucose intolerant or diabetic mothers, and with the Kahn lab, uses iPS cells as novel models of human type 2 diabetes.
Work from all of these laboratories could lead to the discovery of new targets for the treatment of diabetes and related diseases.