‘Wenbiao Chen’
Study establishes mediator of alpha cell proliferation, important for diabetes treatment
Mar. 16, 2023—By Leah Mann The lab of Wenbiao Chen, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, identified a signaling pathway for hyperaminoacidemia-induced alpha cell proliferation. Hyperaminoacidemia, or an excess of amino acids in the bloodstream, occurs when the function of glucagon, a pancreatic hormone that raises glucose levels and breaks down amino acids, is disrupted. In...
CRISPR screen identifies role for a specific protein in insulin secretion
Jan. 25, 2023—By Leah Mann The labs of Wenbiao Chen, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, and Irina Kaverina, professor of cell and development biology, recently published a study in Molecular Metabolism focused on detecting genes that regulate insulin secretion. The authors demonstrated a new role for the Commander complex—a bound group of 16 proteins—in insulin...
Immune cells drive beta cell loss in Type 2 diabetes
Sep. 8, 2022—Obesity and overnutrition increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes through several mechanisms. One of these is through loss of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreatic islet. Wenbiao Chen, PhD, and colleagues previously have shown that overnutrition stressed the endoplasmic reticulum, the part of the beta cell essential for producing insulin. This caused the...