Cell Metabolism

Dr. Kim Brint Pedersen (kpeder@lsuhsc.edu)
- Assistant Professor
Whole-body fuel metabolism is integrated by signals derived from the nervous system, by hormones, and by the availability of circulating substrates. If defects in this signaling occur, metabolic diseases such as diabetes can arise. As signals of the fed and fasted states, the hormones insulin and glucagon elicit signal transduction cascades giving rise to appropriate biological effects in different cell types. An elevated concentration of glucose is another signal of the fed state that can elicit changes in gene expression, e.g. in pancreatic beta-cells and in hepatocytes. The laboratory does research on glucose regulation of genes involved in intermediary metabolism such as the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of glucose-6-phosphatase.