Laboratory of Cell Signaling and Metabolic Disorders

Head: Agnieszka DOBRZYŃ

Staff: Tomasz Bednarski (PhD student), Paweł Dobrzyń, Anna Dziewulska (PhD student), Anna Gajda, Justyna Janikiewicz, Magdalena Jazurek (PhD student), Katarzyna Kolczyńska (MSc student), Kamil Koziński (PhD student), Katarzyna Maleńczyk (PhD student), Małgorzata Małodobra, Katarzyna Mnich, Zofia Pilch (PhD student), Aleksandra Pyrkowska, Aleksandra Rumińska (PhD student)

Research profile:

Our research group carries out cutting edge, multidisciplinary studies on signaling and transcriptional cascades that have far-reaching implications on lipid metabolism and human metabolic diseases, i.e. diabetes and obesity-related heart dysfunctions. The long-term goal of our research is to gain in-depth understanding of the functional interaction between transcription factors and obesity related disorders. Our main priority is to understand the role of lipid metabolites in the development of lipid-induced insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction. The second priority is to gain insights into the functional role of stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) for heart, skeletal muscle and pancreatic islet metabo- lism regulation because it will increase our understanding of how lipid partitioning is controlled, and may have important implications for pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome.
More information about Laboratory on the web page

Methods:

• combination of careful biochemistry, whole animal nutri- tion, molecular genetics and mouse genetics, putting our laboratory in the vanguard of those exploring lipid homeostasis and providing essential insights into the causes of many serious diseases that can result when metabolic homeostasis fails

Current research activities:

• identifying signaling pathways involved in the patho- genesis of insulin resistance and pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes
• studies of transcription factors (STAT, PPAR, PGC1, SREBP) as key molecules involved in lipotoxicity
• determining the role of metabolic and genetic abnormalities in obesity-related heart dysfunction
• studies on neuronal regulation of pancreatic beta-cell function

Selected publications:

Dobrzyń P., Dobrzyń A., Miyazaki M., Ntambi J.M. (2010) Loss of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 rescues cardiac function in obese leptin-deficient mice. Journal of Lipid Research, 51: 2202-2210.

Dobrzyń P., Jazurek M., Dobrzyń A. (2010) Stearoyl-CoA desaturase and insulin resistance – What is the molecular switch. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1797: 1189-1194.

Dobrzyń P., Pyrkowska A., Jazurek M., Szymański K., Langfort J., Dobrzyń A. (2010) Endurance training-induced accumulation of muscle triglycerides is coupled to upregulation of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1. Journal of Applied Physiology, 109: 1653-1661.

Dobrzyń P., Sampath H., Dobrzyń A., Miyazaki M., Ntambi J.M. (2008) Loss of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 inhibits fatty acid oxidation and increases glucose utilization in the heart. American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolizm, 294: E357-364