Nov 23, 2020
Scientists all over the world
are working on the same question facing Paul Titchenell's lab: what
are the pathways that lead to metabolic diseases? This podcast
explores what happens between the liver, pancreas, and blood stream
during the metabolism process of the human body.
Listen and learn
Paul M. Titchenell is an
assistant professor of physiology at the University of
Pennsylvania. His lab is trying to understand the basic mechanism
of insulin action. He describes their process as a diverse approach
through studying cells through the mechanism of insulin action in
vivo and in animal models.
Their goal is to understand the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases
associated with aberrant insulin action, like insulin resistance,
type 2 diabetes, and
obesity. Like many disease mysteries, he explains that to
understand what goes wrong, scientists need to understand what goes
right in normal physiology by mapping the signal transduction
pathways that insulin uses to coordinate
metabolism.
They are focused on the liver in
particular because the liver makes glucose to provide our bodies
with energy while we are fasting and/or sleeping. Hormones involved
in metabolism include insulin, which tells the liver to stop that
glucose production. However, insulin "resistance" can trigger the
body to try make even more insulin to maintain that part of the
pathway.
At this point, the overproduction of insulin causes problems
scientists are trying to understand. The mystery includes the
varying levels of metabolic capability at this point. The
Titchenell Lab, as well as many other scientists, are trying to
understand why insulin continues to promote lipid synthesis in the
liver during conditions of insulin resistance while failing to
control blood sugar.
For more, see his lab's
webpage, www.med.upenn.edu/titchenelllab,
and find him on Twitter.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK