University of Massachusetts DERC Membership by Research Area

TYPE 2 DIABETES | TYPE 1 DIABETES | IMMUNOLOGY | MOLECULAR BIOLOGY/RNA THERAPUETICS | CELL BIOLOGY/DEVELOPMENTAL

TYPE 2 DIABETES

Name
Research

Anthony Carruthers, PhD*
Biochem & Mol Biology

Sugar transport
Marcus Cooper, MD
Cardiology		Role of LRP130, and its effect on mitochondrial biology, in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Silvia Corvera, MD*
Molecular Medicine		Insulin action, membrane trafficking glucose transporters, exocytosis
Michael Czech, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Insulin action, glucose transport

Roger Davis, PhD*
Molecular Medicine

Study of the role of MAP kinases in insulin action and insulin secretion
Paul Dobner, PhD*
Mol. Genetics & Microbiology		Neurotensin, fat, metabolism, hormones
Kevin Fogarty, MS*
Physiology		Biomedical Cell Imaging
Guangping Gao, PhD*
Gene Therapy		Molecular pathogenesis and gene therapy of type II diabetes. This will be accomplished by combining unique tissue tropism of AAV serotype vectors with tissue specific, pharmacologically and micro RNA regulated gene expression cassettes for either beta-cell ablation and/or gene transfer
Olga Hardy, MD*
Pediatrics		The role of adipose inflammation in the pathogenesis of obesity-related comorbidities in adolescents
Stephen Jones, PhD
Cell Biology		Transgenic mice, knockout mice, mouse models, cancer
Norman Kennedy, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance
Catarina Kiefe, MD, PhD*
Quantitative Health Sciences		 
Jason Kim, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Role of inflammation in diabetes and cardiovascular complications. Metabolic phenotying of transgenic mouse models of obesity, diabetes and its complications
David Lambright, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Membrane trafficking, G proteins, phosphoinositide signaling
Nathan Lawson, PhD*
Gene Func. & Exp.		Work to dissect the signals that are required for proper pancreas development and function
John Leszyk, PhD*
Biochem. & Mol. Pharm.		Protein microanalysis
Sherry Pagoto, PhD*
Prev. & Behav. Medicine		Psychiatric co-morbidities of obesity and type 2 diabetes; role of stress in development of insulin resistance
Joel Richter, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		The role of CPEB-mediated translational control in insulin-signaling and diabetes.
Hayla Sluss, PhD
Medicine/Endocrinology		p53 connection to obesity in fat physiology, pathology and role in diabetes
Juerg Straubhaar, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Bioinformatics Core Director
Heidi Tissenbaum, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Genetic and molecular analysis of new genes in the insulin-like signaling pathway in C. elegans.
Fumihiko Urano, MD, PhD*
Gene Func. & Exp.		PI 3-kinase and its targets in insulin-responsive cells
Marion Walhout, PhD*
Neurobiology		Fat storage problems in obesity and lipodystrophy in the development of type 2 diabetes 
Yong-Xu Wang, PhD*
Gene Func. & Exp.		Transcriptional control of fatty acid and glucose metabolism and its implications in obesity and diabetes
* = Primary Members 

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TYPE 1 DIABETES

Name
Research
Rita Bortell, PhD*
Medicine/Diabetes		The role of gut immunity in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes using the BB rat as a model
Dale Greiner, PhD*
Medicine/Diabetes		Animal models of diabetes, thymic differentiation, autoimmunity
Joonsoo Kang, PhD*
Pathology		Impact of spatially and temporally regulated CTLA-4 expression in T cells on the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes
John Mordes, MD*
Medicine/Endocrinology		Type 1 diabetes genetics and immunology
David Serreze, PhD*
Jackson Lab		Autoimmunity, immune tolerance, immunogenetics
Leonard Shultz, PhD*
Jackson Lab		Animal models, developmental immunobiology, immunodeficiency, autoimmunity
Bruce Woda, MD*
Pathology		Transplantation immunology, immune tolerance, type1 diabetes
* = Primary Members 

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IMMUNOLOGY

Name
Research
Leslie Berg, PhD
Pathology		Immune tolerance and autoimmunity, lymphocyte activation, signal transduction
Francis Ka-Ming Chan, PhD
Pathology		TNF and TNF receptor mechanism in regulating immune and autoimmune systems in diabetes and lupus
Stephen Doxsey, PhD
Molecular Medicine		Autoimmunity, autoantibodies, vascular damage, sclerosis
Robert Finberg, MD
Medicine		Coxsackie and Adenovirus receptors (CAR) characterized by defining the expression of the CAR protein in the pancreas, viral pathogenesis of diabetes
Rachel Gerstein, PhD
Mol. Genetics & Microbiology		V(D)J recombination, autoimmunity, immune tolerance
Eric Huseby, PhD*
Pathology		T cell tolerance and autoimmunity to tissue specific antigens
Michelle Kelliher, PhD
Cancer Biology		TNF signaling related to anti-apoptotic pathways, TNF induced insulin resistance
Evelyn Kurt-Jones, PhD
Medicine		Explore ways to prevent or control innate receptor triggered inflammation and the development of autoreactive T cell responses the initiate and sustain diabetes pathogenesis.
Egil Lien, PhD
Medicine/Infectious Disease		Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the onset of viral autoimmune diabetes mellitus triggered by the innate immune system.
Shan Lu, MD, PhD
Medicine		Immunogenic role of Coxsackie virus, DNA vaccines
Kenneth Rock, MD*
Pathology		T cell activation, MHC molecules, mechanisms of antigen presentation that contribute to immunity/autoimmunity, immune tolerance to treat autoimmunity and support islet cell transplantation.
Alan Rothman, MD
Ctr for ID & Vac Research		Humanized mouse models of transplantation and immunity
Lawrence Stern, PhD*
Pathology		Biochemical and cellular studies in molecular events that lead to T cell activation and tolerance
Robert Woodland, PhD
Mol. Genetics & Microbiology		Gene transfer using replication incompetent adenovirus vectors. Potentiation of tolerance induction regimens by the transfer of cytokine genes.
* = Primary Members 

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MOLECULAR BIOLOGY/RNA THERAPUETICS

Name
Research
Victor Ambros, PhD
Molecular Medicine		Identification of microRNAs circulating in human blood plasma as potential biomarkers for diabetes
Neil Aronin, MD*
Medicine/Endocrinology		Apoptosis, cell signaling, genetic disease
Lucio Castilla, PhD
Gene Func. & Exp.		Identifying genes altered in diabetes progression
Patrick Emery, PhD
Neurobiology		How the circadian photoreceptor CRYPTOCHROME transmits light information to the circadian pacemaker
Michael Green, MD, PhD
Molecular Medicine		Gene expression, RNA splicing, transcription factors
Mitsuo Ikebe, PhD
Physiology		Mechanism of insulin in vascular smooth muscle contraction
Allan Jacobson, PhD*
Mol. Genetics & Microbiology		Regulation of mRNA stability and translation
Paul Kaufman, PhD
Gene Func. & Exp.		Molecular mechanisms of histone deacetylase-regulated pancreatic cell development and gene expression.  Development of recombinant viral tools for overexpression and knockdown of gene expression
Daniel Kilpatrick, PhD
Physiology		Transcriptional Control of Cellular Differentiation
Timothy Kowalik, PhD
Mol. Genetics & Microbiology		Apoptosis, proliferation, RNAi applications in islet transplantation
Craig Mello, PhD
Molecular Medicine		Tyrosine kinase signaling and the role ofGSK-3 in development, RNA interference as a tool for targeted gene inactivation.
Arthur Mercurio, PhD
Cancer Biology		Role of insulin signaling and insulin receptor substrate proteins in regulating aerobic glycolysis in breast tumor cells
Kimberly Tremblay, PhD
Vet & Animal Scien.		Understanding the molecular and morphological mechanisms underlying the formation of the pancreas from the endoderm.
David Weaver, PhD
Neurobiology		Circadian rhythms in endocrine function, the mechanisms of hormone action, and related endocrine disorders
Zoushang Xu, PhD
Biochem. & Mol. Pharm.		Generation of rat models using transgenic RNAi technology
Phillip Zamore, PhD
Biochem. & Mol. Pharm.		Fundamental mechanisms of mRNA silencing, RNA interference, miRNA mediated silencing
* = Primary Members 

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CELL BIOLOGY/DEVELOPMENTAL

Name
Research
Eric Baehrecke, PhD
Cancer Biology		Insulin, PI3K, and TOR signaling, steroid signaling autophagy, nutrient utilization and bioenergetics, cell survival and death
Vivian Budnik, PhD
Neurobiology		Investigate the role of insulin within the nervous system
Roger Craig, PhD
Cell Biology		Myosin molecules, thick filaments and the actin-myosin complex
Anthony Imbalzano, PhD*
Mol. Genetics & Microbiology		Role of hSWI/SNF Chromatin Remodeling Enzymes in Adipocyte Signaling and Differentiation
Tony Ip, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		MAP kinase signaling, immune response
Lucia Languino, PhD
Cancer Biology		Role of cell surface receptors, Integrins in cell proliferation
Andrew Leiter, MD, PhD
Medicine/Gastroenterology		Role of enteroinsular axis in glucose metabolism; differentiation of pancreatic and gut endocrine cells
Jane Lian, PhD
Cell Biology		Bone, glucocorticoid, vitamin D, gene therapy
Paul Odgren, PhD
Cell Biology		Hyperparathyroidism in skeleton and marrow maintenance; endocrine and paracrine effects of PTH, vitamin D, IGF’s.
Gregory Pazour, PhD*
Molecular Medicine		Function of primary cilia on beta cells in pancreatic islets
Charles Sagerstrom, PhD*
Biochem. & Mol. Pharm.		Analysis of Islet development In Zebrafish
Gary Stein, PhD
Cell Biology		Molecular studies integrating hormone responses with bone tissue-specific gene expression
George Witman, PhD*
Cell Biology		Cellular motility, microtubules
* = Primary Members 

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