This program is comprised of grants that study intermediary metabolism and physiology on the whole body, organ, and cell level, especially as they pertain to energy metabolism in diabetes, obesity and chronic metabolic disease. These studies can be done in vivo, in isolated tissues or in cell culture. Specific tissues of interest are liver and skeletal muscle, but may also include some studies in heart, brain, nerves, etc. They have as a focus flux and regulation of either a single metabolic pathway, interacting pathways in a cell or organ, or interactions between organs in the whole body. Especially important are in vivo measurements of whole body flux, such as glucose production or turnover, or blood flow. Examples of important goals for these studies include an understanding of insulin and leptin resistance, regulation of gluconeogenesis, glycogen metabolism and glucose disposal, protein turnover rate and regulation, cellular and whole body lipid fluxes, interaction between carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, metabolism and interorgan signaling roles of specific lipids, rate of tricarboxylic acid cycle flux and energy production in the cell, transcriptional regulation of important flux regulating enzymes or transporters for a given pathway, measurement and regulation of thermogenesis, especially in a tissue specific manner, etc.
For more information, contact Dr. Maren R. Laughlin, Senior Advisor for Integrative Metabolism.
