The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Juleen R. Zierath, Ph.D., professor of physiology, department of molecular medicine and surgery, Section for Integrative Physiology, Karolinska Institutet; professor of integrative physiology and scientific director, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Copenhagen University

Speaker bio(s)

Insulin resistance is a characteristic feature of type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. Although defects in glucose homeostasis have been recognized for decades, the molecular mechanisms accounting for impaired whole body glucose uptake are still incompletely understood. Skeletal muscle is quantitatively the major tissue involved in maintaining glucose homeostasis under insulin-stimulated conditions and a primary site of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. Dr. Zierath's lab has linked defects in whole body glucose uptake to impaired skeletal muscle insulin signaling and reduced glucose transport activity. Defects in muscle insulin sensitivity are present long before the onset of type 2 diabetes. This lecture will focus on the sites of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes and mechanisms by which exercise enhances glucose uptake in skeletal muscle. Special consideration will be given to the mechanism by which epigenetic modifications can play an important role in the development of metabolic diseases. DNA methylation is one form of epigenetic modification linking environmental factors to the control of insulin sensitivity. The first part of this lecture will focus on the role of DNA methylation and insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes and obesity. Thereafter, the role of DNA methylation as a regulatory mechanism for gene expression changes in response to exercise will be discussed. Given the importance of lifestyle factors in the development of metabolic disorders, epigenetic modifications provide a mechanism by which environmental factors, including diet and exercise, play a role in the pathogenesis insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.

 

Dr. Zierath has been given many honors for her work, including the Fernström Prize in 1991, Karolinska Institutet’s Hagberg Prize in 2001 and the Minkowski Prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in 2000. She is the chair of the board of directors of the Keystone Symposia and a member of the Nobel Assembly and chairman of the Nobel Committee. She is also editor-in-chief of Diabetologia and a member of the executive committee of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

 

Dr. Zierath earned her Ph.D. in physiology at Karolinska Institutet and was a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard Medical School’s division of endocrinology. She has been on the faculty of Boston University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the University of Massachusetts, and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

 

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Alena Powell

Phone

(212) 327-7745

Sponsor

Alena Powell
(212) 327-7745
apowell@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3189