Our Mission: Develop new ways to detect and treat insulin resistance 

We study human insulin resistance using the tools of human genetics and functional genomics. Our goal is to diagnose patients and identify therapeutic targets for cardiometabolic diseases-- diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and fatty liver

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Our Approach:

Genotype-Function-Phenotype

We apply a multi-disciplinary approach to investigation—
grounded in human genetics, clarified through systematic, high throughput cellular experimentation, and calibrated by its relevance to disease. 
1. Genotype: human genetic/genomic variation; genome engineering 
2. Function: massively parallel, disease-calibrated cellular assays; serum/tissue biomarkers 
3. Phenotype: clinical trial outcomes and real-world patient health data

Our Research Programs

 

Therapeutic Target Identification

Therapeutic Target Identification

Identify genes that protect from insulin resistance
   

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Individually tailored therapy

Individually tailored therapy

Massively parallel assay to predict drug response
   

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Next-generation phenotyping

Next-generation phenotyping

Distinguishing the many diseases that are called type 2 diabetes
   

Lab News and Announcements 

June 2023: Postdoctoral fellows Karen Mendez and Siqi Hu present their research at American Diabetes Association (ADA) conference in San Diego.

• Session: Functional Characterization of Type 2 Diabetes Genetic Loci (Karen)
  
• Session: The Molecular Consequences of Obesity across Human Tissues (Siqi)
  

May 2023: Our work on identification and characterization of gain-of-function HNF1A genetic variants has been published, check it out here.

• "Human gain-of-function variants in HNF1A confer protection from diabetes but independently increase hepatic secretion of atherogenic lipoproteins". Cell Genomics 2023
  

January 2023: Welcome Postdoctoral Fellow Guru Bhavimani to the lab!

September 2022: Welcome Postdoctoral Fellows Rizaldy Zapata, Masters student Zhiyi Zhu, and Biomedical Sciences PhD student Rachel Diao to the lab!

August 2022: Natalie DeForest and Xiaomi Du present their research at the NASH Keystone Conference in Whistler, BC, Canada (photos).

July 2022: Our work on accuracy of continuous glucose monitors has been published, check it out here.

• Boeder et. al. "Accuracy and Glycemic Efficacy of Continuous Glucose Monitors in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients: a Retrospective Study". JDST 2022