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Metabolic Regulation

Meet MCB: Professor Jongsook Kim Kemper

Dr. Kemper is Professor Emeritus of Molecular & Integrative Physiology. Her lab focuses on metabolic signaling and epigenomic control of metabolism and energy balance.

PhD candidate in molecular & integrative physiology named finalist for Research Live! Showcase

A graduate student in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology competed in the Illinois Graduate College's Research Live! Showcase at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts.

Scientists join together to present findings on impact of lipids on metabolic diseases

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently hosted the 4th Big Ten Academic Alliance Lipid meeting, bringing together dozens of scientists from across the country to share their expertise on how lipids impact metabolic diseases.

Researchers find new control mechanism for sugar metabolism in gut microbes

In a new University of Illinois study, researchers found that genes encoding a previously unstudied family of RBPs are highly expressed in many Bacteroides species. They also demonstrated that mutants of the prevalent human gut bacteria Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron that lacked RBPs exhibited...

Investigating the role of Brd4 in diet-induced obesity

A new study, published in JCI insight, looks at how Brd4, a regulator of the innate immune response, influences diet-induced obesity. The researchers believe that Brd4 could be used as a target for obesity and insulin resistance.

Division of labor within regenerating liver maintains metabolism, mouse study finds

The liver has a rare superpower among body organs – the ability to regenerate, even if 70% of its mass is removed. It also keeps up its metabolic and toxin-removing work during the process of regeneration, thanks to a subset of cells that expand their workload while the rest focus on multiplication...

Researchers study how biotin affects mycobacteria growth

Alumni Professor of MicrobiologyJohn E. Cronan at the University of Illinois recently published work on the biotin synthesis pathway and its role in mycobacterium and tuberculosis. Cronan’s lab primarily works on lipid metabolism and fatty acid synthesis. In his recent publication, Cronan takes a...

Study: Gut hormones' regulation of fat production abnormal in obesity, fatty liver disease

Gut hormones play an important role in regulating fat production in the body. One key hormone, released a few hours after eating, turns off fat production by regulating gene expression in the liver, but this regulation is abnormal in obesity, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-...

New study explores complex phage-host interactions in human gut

Danielle Campbell, a microbiology PhD graduate of the Whitaker Lab, recently studied the interaction of the active prophage, Bacteroides phage BV01, in its tractable host strain, B. vulgatus ATCC 8482. Bacteroides, known to degrade complex carbohydrates and interact with host immune cells, are one...

MCB researchers shed light that detoxification machinery is kept on in some liver disease states

Bile acids are cholesterol metabolites that are well known for their role in fat digestion. Many liver diseases such as gallstones, fatty liver disease, congenital disorders lead to cholestasis, which is characterized as accumulation of bile acids in the liver. The Anakk laboratory at the...