Research

How does the body regulate metabolism right after feeding, in the fed state, in the fasted state. Importantly, how does the body handle the transition between these states?

The balance is always maintained. We think a lot about Claude Bernard and the Mileu Interieur

When the Milieu Interieur is no longer maintained, we have metabolic disease. Among these, we are interested in Diabetes Mellitus.

Our research focuses on the biology of the endocrine pancreas, which produces many of the hormones that regulate substrate and energy metabolism. The first cells that the endocrine pancreatic hormones target are hepatocytes. Consequently our laboratory studies the inter-tissue signaling between the endocrine pancreas and the liver, and how these signals are altered in metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus.

We use genetically engineered mouse models and cell systems to examine the signaling pathways between tissues and the signaling mechanism within the cells of these tissues. We focus on the role fo G-protein coupled receptors, their ligands and their intracellular signaling pathways in regulating metabolism through their actions on endocrine pancreatic cells and on hepatocytes