News & Research

    Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts

IRS Signaling and Mitochondrial Function

General Research Subject: Type 2 Diabetes

Focus: Insulin Action\Insulin Resistance

Type of Grant: Mentor Based Postdoctoral Fellowship

Project Start Date: July 1, 2008

Project End Date: June 30, 2012

Research Description

This ADA mentor-based fellowship focuses on the structure and function of the molecular mechanisms of insulin signal transmission. Through generous support from various sources¡Xincluding previous ADA mentor-based fellowships¡Xthe laboratory continues to make contributions to our understanding of insulin signaling. Research training in Dr. White's laboratory is a mentor-based self-directed program of original investigation. Fellows are encouraged to employ multiple disciplines to answer important biological questions, including various aspects of molecular biology, cell biology, cell culture, protein chemistry and enzymology. The goal of the fellowship training is to produce academic investigators of high integrity, who are well-trained in the basic principles of contemporary medical research and prepared to establish their own independent research laboratories in medical schools and research institutes throughout the nation and around the world. To realize these goals, the ADA fellow interacts with all members of the mentor's laboratory supported by the NIH, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the JDFI. In addition, the ADA fellow has unlimited opportunities to collaborate with scientists and clinical investigators in Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Several broad areas of research are available for training, including the function and regulation of the insulin-like signaling system in peripheral and central tissues; the regeneration of pancreatic islets; and the role of insulin-like signaling in the control of animal life span. This training allows our fellows to face the future with courage and confidence to engage new questions and develop solutions to biological problems related to diabetes.

Reseacher Profile

Mentor: Morris F. White, PhD     Postdoctoral Fellow: Zhiyong Cheng, MS, PhD

What area of diabetes research does your project cover?  What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?

This project explores how insulin action is related to energy homeostasis and metabolism.  Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are related to mitochondrial dysfunction.  This project will investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the interaction of mitochondrial function and insulin signaling.  Our work has the potential to reveal new targets for the prevention or cure of type 2 diabetes. 

If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?

Type 2 diabetes is a common metabolic disease, and nutrient excess plays an important role in the pathogenesis.  Our project focuses on mitochondria, the center of metabolism and powerhouse of cells.  It will provide evidence on how mitochondria work under conditions where insulin functions normally or abnormally, as well as how energy expenditure is mechanistically related to insulin action.  The results will be promising for patients with type 2 diabetes to improve their health conditions in terms of diet, physical activity, and balance.

Why is it important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research?  What role will this award play in your research efforts?

1. Diabetes is ranked as the 5th killer disease worldwide, and it affects 20.8 million children and adults in the U.S. (7% of the population) according to the ADA.  It's a national and also international mission to cure diabetes.  I am a part of that mission.2. This project is relatively new in my lab, which bridges a gap between insulin action/nutrient homeostasis and energy homeostasis.

In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?

It would be promising to identify some targets that can improve insulin action/secretion.  To this end, the elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlying insulin resistance and  -cell dysfunctions would be the first priority in diabetes research.