Research

Insulin is a primary and essential regulator of blood glucose, which provides nutrition to cells and tissues in the body. When blood glucose rises, the pancreatic β cells respond by secreting insulin, which in turn enhances glucose uptake by the cells in the body to quickly lower the blood sugar concentration to the correct level. How much and how quickly insulin is secreted is tightly regulated, and this is the focus of our research.

A key protein regulator of insulin secretion is the enzyme glucokinase. Our lab studies how glucokinase is regulated by nitric oxide, which activates glucokinase and regulates its cellular localization.

Development of optical biosensors

Fluorescent proteins allow us to examine dynamic regulation of proteins in living cells. We use a structure-based approach to understand the inner workings of these reagents and to build better, brighter probes. Our latest variant, mCerulean3, is an exceptionally bright and stable cyan fluorescent protein. We also have several FRET-based probes in development that can be used to track enzyme activation in living cells through quantitative fluorescence microscopy methods.