Michelle Kimple
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: GPCRs in pancreatic islet biology
Email: mkimple@medicine.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 265-5627
Address:
4148 Uw Med Fndtn Centennial Bldg
1685 Highland Ave
Madison, WI 53705
LAB WEBSITE:
FOCUS GROUPS:
Cellular & Molecular Metabolism; Developmental Biology & Regenerative Medicine; Physiology
RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:
Currently, over 30 million Americans (about 10% of the population) are estimated to have diabetes, with the majority of cases being obesity-linked type 2 diabetes (T2D). Some diabetes treatments—most notably, the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs)—show evidence for stimulating the β-cell to augment glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), β-cell replication, and/or β-cell survival. Yet, these treatments do not work in everyone, particularly those with existing β-cell dysfunction. The long-term goal of my research program is to characterize signal transduction pathways that inhibit β-cell function, growth, and replication, with the objective of identifying and validating new therapeutic targets for the loss of functional β-cell mass in diabetes. The specific focus of my laboratory is the Gi subfamily member, Gz, and it’s associated receptor, prostaglandin EP3 receptor (EP3), in the regulation of functional β-cell mass. We use mouse models of T2D and isolated mouse and human islets elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind b-cell EP3/Gz signaling and how these correlate with changes in b-cell function, replication, and survival.
ALSO A TRAINER IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS: Cellular and Molecular Pathology (CMP), Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (MCP), Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology (ERP), Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBMS), Nutritional Sciences (IGPNS), Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)