SUNY Distinguished Professor,UB Distinguished Professor, Associate Dean for Research & Biomed. Ed.
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Endocrinology; Inherited Metabolic Disorders; Molecular Basis of Disease; Neurobiology; Protein Function and Structure; Regulation of metabolism; Transgenic organisms
One research goal is to investigate the structure-function relationships and regulation of the human pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). We investigate the catalytic mechanism of the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) component and its interactions with the dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2) component of PDC. We also determine the loci of interactions between PDH kinases (four PDK isoenzymes) and the lipoyl domains of E2.
Using a PDC-knockout mouse line we investigate the importance of glucose metabolism as a source of energy for fetal development as well as the role of PDC in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells.
Another research goal is to investigate diet-induced metabolic programming during early life. We investigate (i) the effects of an altered nutrition during the immediate postnatal life on development of adult-onset obesity and (ii) the effects of maternal obesity on fetal programming. Current research focuses on the role of the hypothalamic signaling pathways in rodents with diet-induced obesity and also in the progeny of obese mothers.