The image above represents the expertise, skills and passion of our members. They cover a vast array of research areas, from computational genomics to inpatient hyperglycemia prevention, islet biology to vascular therapeutics, stem-cell-based high content screening to adipogenesis, and novel obesity provider platforms to diabetes technologies. By bringing all of these skills and passions into the same conversation, we can make a difference in metabolic disease.
Openings for Postdoctoral Positions
Several postdoctoral positions are available at the Weill Center for Metabolic Health. Detailed information is available here.
Selected publications from center members (2022-23)
Selected publications from 2021
Tang et al. and Chen, S. A multi-organoid platform identifies CIART as a key factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Cell Biol 25, 381–389 (2023).
Rubio-Navarro et al. and Lo, J.C. A beta cell subset with enhanced insulin secretion and glucose metabolism is reduced in type 2 diabetes. Nat Cell Biol (2023).
Tang et al. and Chen, S. A multi-organoid platform identifies CIART as a key factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Cell Biol 25, 381–389 (2023).
Gomez-Salinero et al. and Rafii, S. Specification of fetal liver endothelial progenitors to functional zonated adult sinusoids requires c-Maf induction. Cell Stem Cell 29, 593-609 e597 (2022).
Gu et al. and Zhou, Q. SATB2 preserves colon stem cell identity and mediates ileum-colon conversion via enhancer remodeling. Cell Stem Cell 29, 101-115 e110 (2022).
Han et al. and Chen, S. A human iPSC-array-based GWAS identifies a virus susceptibility locus in the NDUFA4 gene and functional variants. Cell Stem Cell 29,1475-1490 e6 (2022).
Vandana, J. J., Lacko, L. A. and Chen, S. Expanding the precision oncology toolkit with micro-organospheres for early cancer diagnosis. Cell Stem Cell 29, 873-875 (2022).
Bhardwaj et al. and Brown, K.A. Obesity promotes breast epithelium DNA damage in women carrying a germline mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2. Sci Transl Med 15, eade1857 (2023).
Han et al. and Chen, S. SARS-CoV-2 Infection Induces Ferroptosis of Sinoatrial Node Pacemaker Cells. Circ Res 130, 963-977 (2022).
Sinha S, Hassan N, Schwartz RE. Organelle stress and alterations in inter-organelle crosstalk during liver fibrosis. Hepatology. ():10.1097/HEP.0000000000000012 (2023).
Queiroz et al. and Goncalves, M. D. Blocking ActRIIB and restoring appetite reverses cachexia and improves survival in mice with lung cancer. Nat Commun 13, 4633 (2022)
Zhang, Z. B., Sinha, J., Bahrami-Nejad, Z. and Teruel, M. N. The circadian clock mediates daily bursts of cell differentiation by periodically restricting cell-differentiation commitment. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 119, e2204470119 (2022)
Gomez-Salinero et al. and Rafii S. Cooperative ETS Transcription Factors Enforce Adult Endothelial Cell Fate and Cardiovascular Homeostasis. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2022 Oct;1:882-899.
Sasset et al. and Di Lorenzo, A. Nogo-A reduces ceramide de novo biosynthesis to protect from heart failure. Cardiovasc Res (2022) cvac108
Altorki et al. and McGraw, T. E. Global evolution of the tumor microenvironment associated with progression from preinvasive invasive to invasive human lung adenocarcinoma. Cell Rep 39, 110639 (2022).
Tholen et al. and Teruel, M. N. Flattening of circadian glucocorticoid oscillations drives acute hyperinsulinemia and adipocyte hypertrophy. Cell Rep 39, 111018 (2022).
Matsui et al. and Pitt, G. S. Increased Ca2+ influx through CaV1.2 drives aortic valve calcification. JCI Insight, 155569 (2022).
Letian et al. and McGraw TE. Proximity proteome mapping reveals PD-L1-dependent pathways disrupted by anti-PD-L1 antibody specifically in EGFR-mutant lung cancer cells. Cell Commun Signal. 2023 Mar 13;21(1):58.
Hong et al. and Cho, S.J. The Role of Glutathione Reductase in Influenza Infection. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, doi:10.1165/rcmb.2021-0372OC (2022).
Krishnan et al. and Safford, M.M. Race and Sex Differences in Mortality in Individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Ann Am Thorac Soc (2022).
Jack, GA and Kashyap, SR. Insulin Independence With SGLT2 Inhibitor Use in Type 2 Diabetes, J. Clin. Endocr., 2023;, dgad143
Sosa, B. R., Wang, Z., Healey, J. H., Hameed, M. & Greenblatt, M. B. A Subset of Osteosarcoma Bears Markers of CXCL12-Abundant Reticular Cells. JBMR Plus 6, e10596, (2022).
Langer et al. and Goncalves, M. Systemic Ketone Replacement Does Not Improve Survival or Cancer Cachexia in Mice With Lung Cancer. Front Oncol12, 903157 (2022).
Pinheiro, L. C., Reshetnyak, E., Akinyemiju, T., Phillips, E. & Safford, M. M. Social determinants of health and cancer mortality in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort study. Cancer 128, 122-130 (2022).
Lucas E, Simmons O, Tchang B, Aronne L. Pharmacologic management of weight regain following bariatric surgery. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Jan 9;13:1043595.
Ghazizadeh et al. and Chen, S. A dual SHOX2:GFP; MYH6:mCherry knockin hESC reporter line for derivation of human SAN-like cells. iScience 25, 104153 (2022).
Zhang et al. and Maxfield, F. R. Phosphatidylinositol phosphates modulate interactions between the StarD4 sterol trafficking protein and lipid membranes. J Biol Chem 298, 102058 (2022).
Khodneva et al. and Safford, M. M. Depressive Symptoms and Incident Hospitalization for Heart Failure: Findings From the REGARDS Study. J Am Heart Assoc 11, e022818 (2022).
Reading Turchioe et al. and Safford, M. M. Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke Symptoms in the REGARDS Study. J Am Heart Assoc 11, e022921 (2022).
Sasset et al. and Di Lorenzo, A. S1P controls endothelial sphingolipid homeostasis via ORMDL. The FASEB Journal 36 (2022).
van der Mijn et al. and Gudas, L. Transcriptional and metabolic remodeling in clear cell renal cell carcinoma caused by ATF4 activation and the integrated stress response (ISR). Mol Carcinog, doi:10.1002/mc.23437 (2022).
Kubala et al. and Gudas LJ. NDUFA4L2 reduces mitochondrial respiration resulting in defective lysosomal trafficking in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Biol Ther. 2023 Dec 31;24(1):2170669
Yallowitz, AR, Shim J, Xu R, Greenblatt, MB, An angiogenic approach to osteoanabolic therapy targeting the SHN3-SLIT3 pathway, Bone 172, 2023, 116761
Kulm, S., Kofman, L., Mezey, J. & Elemento, O. Simple Linear Cancer Risk Prediction Models With Novel Features Outperform Complex Approaches. JCO Clin Cancer Inform 6, e2100166 (2022).
Price et al. and Rafii, S. Angiopoietin 2 Is Associated with Vascular Necroptosis Induction in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Am J Pathol (2022).
Pinheiro, L. C., Soroka, O., Kern, L. M., Leonard, J. P. & Safford, M. M. Racial Disparities in Diabetes-Related Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations Among Cancer Survivors. JCO Oncol Pract, OP.21.00684 (2022).
Pinheiro, L. C., Soroka, O., Kern, L. M., Leonard, J. P. & Safford, M. M. Racial Disparities in Diabetes-Related Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations Among Cancer Survivors. JCO Oncol Pract, OP2100684 (2022).
Tchang, B. G. et al. and Shukla, A. P. Weight Loss Outcomes With Telemedicine During COVID-19. Front Endocrinol 13, 793290 (2022).
Bram Y, Duan X, Nilsson-Payant BE, Chandar V, Wu H, Shore D, Fajardo A, Sinha S, Hassan N, Weinstein H, TenOever BR, Chen S, Schwartz RE. Dual-Reporter System for Real-Time Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Activity in Live Cells Enables Identification of an Allosteric Inhibition Path. ACS Bio Med Chem Au. 2022 Dec 21;2(6):627-641 (2022).
No et al. and Kumar S. Identifying High-Risk Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: An Opportunity for Intervention Within the Primary Care Setting. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2022 Oct 20. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36731002.
Qu, H., Shewchuk, R. M., Richman, J., Andreae, L. J. & Safford, M. M. Identifying Patient Profiles for Developing Tailored Diabetes Self-Management Interventions: A Latent Class Cluster Analysis. Risk Manag Healthc Policy 15 (2022).
Pinheiro et al. and Safford, M. M. Managing diabetes during treatment for breast cancer: oncology and primary care providers' views on barriers and facilitators. Support Care Cancer 30, 6901-6908 (2022).
Tchang, B. G., Aras, M., Wu, A., Aronne, L. J. & Shukla, A. P. Long-term weight loss maintenance with obesity pharmacotherapy: A retrospective cohort study. Obes Sci Pract 8, 320-327 (2022).
Safford MM et al, The design and rationale of a multicenter real-world trial: The Southeastern Collaboration to Improve Blood Pressure Control in the US Black Belt – Addressing the Triple Threat, Contemp. Clin. Trials 129, 2023, 107183
Gaglioti, A. H., Rivers, D., Ringel, J. B., Judd, S. & Safford, M. M. Individual and Neighborhood Influences on the Relationship Between Waist Circumference and Coronary Heart Disease in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study. Prev Chronic Dis 19, E20 (2022).
Bridge-Comer, P. E., Reilly, S. M. Measuring the Rate of Lipolysis in Ex vivo Murine Adipose Tissue and Primary Preadipocytes Differentiated In Vitro. J. Vis. Exp. (193), e65106, doi:10.3791/65106 (2023).
Finch et al. and Safford, M. M. Greater Social Functioning Associated With Lower Depressive Symptomatology Among Black Belt African Americans Enrolled in the Southeastern Collaboration to Improve Blood Pressure Control Study. Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 24, 21m02988 (2022).
Gu, W., Colarusso, J. L., Dame, M. K., Spence, J. R. & Zhou, Q. Rapid establishment of human colonic organoid knockout lines. STAR Protoc 3, 101308 (2022).
Upcoming center seminars
Our seminar series for 2022-2023 school year has ended. Please come back in September for another exciting year of seminars.
Past seminars
May 10, 2023 - Ira Goldberg, MD, Director, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Professor of Endocrinology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “Postprandial lipemia, chylomicrons, and CVD” 2:00-3:00pm, Belfer 302
February 8, 2023 - Joseph T Bass, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Diabetes and Metabolism, Northwestern University. "The Circadian Basis for Bioenergetics in Meal Timing and Metabolism" 2:00-3:00pm, Belfer 204
December 14, 2022 - Guy Rutter, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal, Professor of Cell Biology at Imperial College London, and Wellcome Trust Investigator. “Pancreatic β cell heterogeneity and its role in diabetes” 2:00-3:00pm, Belfer 302
November 9, 2022 - Utpal Pajvani, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Columbia University. “Metabolic and neoplastic consequences of reactivated developmental signaling pathways in obesity” 2:00-3:00pm, Belfer 302
October 12, 2022 - Andrew Stewart, MD, Director of Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Human Beta Cell Regeneration for Diabetes: A Journey from Impossible to Possible” 2:00-3:00pm, Belfer 302
September 28, 2022 - Michelle Rengarajan, MD, PhD, Instructor in Endocrinology at Harvard Medical School and MGH. “Dissecting the cellular basis of autoimmune endocrinopathies”
September 14, 2022 - Tracy G. Anthony, PhD, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers. “Amino acid insufficiency in health and disease”
May 25, 2022 - Stuart Weisberg, M.D, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University. "Obesity primes human pancreas for inflammation via macrophage-T cell cross talk"
April 27, 2022 - Stephanie Correa, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology & Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles. "Integration of reproductive and metabolic cues by neural circuits that control energy balance"
April 13, 2022 - Jeffrey Pessin, Ph.D., Judy R. & Alfred A. Rosenberg Professorial Chair in Diabetes Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Temporal and spatial cellular heterogeneity of hepatocyte metabolic gene expression"
March 30, 2022 - Jeffrey R. Millman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School of Medicine. "Enginneering islets from stem cells for diabetes cell replacement therapy"
March 2, 2022 - Susan K. Fried, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Fat Distribution and Metabolic Health in Women and Men"
February 23, 2022 - Merly Vogt, Ph.D., Research Specialist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University. "Insulin/IGF-1R signaling plays multiple roles in metabolic programming of future generations"
January 26, 2022 - Daniel Vatner, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine. "Role of the lipogenic master regulator in insulin resistant subjects"
January 12, 2022 - Rebecca A. Haeusler, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology, Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Columbia University Medical Center. "Inter-organ crosstalk by lipoproteins and bile acids in cardiometabolic disease"
December 8, 2021 - Seung Kim, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Director, Stanford Diabetes Research Center. "The actual and the possible: islet replacement strategies for diabetes mellitus"
November 17, 2021 - Richard Kibbey, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine. "How beta-cells work: Lessons from the Ox and Caterpillar"
October 27, 2021 - Sona Kang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley. "DNA methylation machinery in adipose biology"
October 15, 2021 - Sander Kersten, Ph.D., Professor in Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics, Chair Division of Human Nutrition & Health, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. "Plasma triglyceride metabolism and diabetes"
September 22, 2021 - Keynote lecture at Center Kickoff. Domenico Accili, M.D., Russell Berrie Foundation Professor of Diabetes in Medicine, Chief of Endocrinology Division, Director of Diabetes Research Center, Columbia University, 2017 Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement, American Diabetes Association. "The ABCC of beta cell failure in diabetes"