 |
Jung Han Kim 229 Jessie Harris Building |
Keywords:
Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, QTL, Mice, Gene
Research Area:
Genetics of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Description of Research:
My long-term research interest is the understanding of the etiology and mechanisms underlying Type 2 diabetes and obesity, concomitantly related disease. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of human diabetes, accounting for over 90% of cases and affecting 250 million people worldwide. Obesity at such epidemic proportions creates serious public health problems. Both diseases, furthermore, are associated with chronic complications and cardiovascular disease, increasing morbidity as well as mortality.
There is substantial evidence demonstrating that genetic factors are strongly involved in the development of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. I have therefore focused my attention on the link between gene dysfunction and these diseases. Currently, I seek to understand the molecular basis of an obesity susceptibility gene, named tabw2, derived from the TallyHo mouse model for Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The tabw2 gene appears to interact with high fat / high sucrose diets to make mice overtly obese. In that respect it is an excellent model for human obesity, which most often results from interactions between genetic susceptibility and an obesigenic environment, i.e., diets enriched in calories from fat and sugar. Therefore, understanding the molecular basis for diet-induced obesity in tabw2 mutant mice may uncover new cellular regulatory pathways that can then be exploited in the control of human obesity.
I am also interested in genetic and physiological analyses of dyslipidemia in TallyHo mice. Dyslipidemia is one of the early pathological events in the development of diabetes, and therefore elucidating the relationship between dyslipidemia and diabetes in TallyHo mice will provide new targets to prevent Type 2 diabetes as well as coronary heart disease, the prominent cause of diabetic deaths.
My continuing research includes gene discovery, genetic resource development, and related biochemical and physiological studies associated with Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Selected Publications:
- Kim JH, Stewart TP, Zhang W, Kim HY, Nishina PM, Naggert JK. (2005). Type 2 diabetes mouse model TallyHo carries an obesity gene on chromosome 6 that exaggerates dietary obesity. Physiol Genomics. 22(2): 171-181. PubMed
- Kim JH, Taylor PN, Young D, Karst SY, Nishina PM, Naggert JK. (2003). New leptin receptor mutations in mice: Lepr(db-rtnd), Lepr(db-dmpg) and Lepr(db-rlpy). J Nutr. 133(5): 1265-1271. PubMed
- Kim JH, Sen S, Avery CS, Simpson E, Chandler P, Nishina PM, Churchill GA, Naggert JK. (2001). Genetic analysis of a new mouse model for non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Genomics. 74(3): 273-286. PubMed
- Jung Han Kim (2004). Quantitative Trait Loci for Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Rodents. Invited Book Review in Genomics and Proteomics in Nutrition, pg. 15-48