Time: 10:00, Nov. 21, 2016

Venue: Room 506, Museum for Aquatic Organisms

Speaker: Dr. Wenbiao Chen Vanderbilt University

Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Islet Cell Compensation and Decompensation During Metabolic Stress in Zebrafish 

Introduction to the Lecture: 

The pancreatic islet employs several mechanisms to maintain glucose homeostasis. In addition to the acute change of glucagon and insulin secretion from alpha and beta cells in response to low and high blood glucose, respectively, insufficient action of glucagon and insulin also triggers compensatory hyperplasia of the cognate cells. Defects in beta -cell compensation and beta-cell maintenance result in diabetes, and compensatory alpha-cell hyperplasia can lead to endocrine tumors. I will present our recent work on using zebrafish as a model to understand the molecular mechanisms of overnutrition-induced beta-cell genesis, glucagon deficiency-induced alpha-cell hyperplasia, and chronic overnutrition-induced beta-cell death.