Allen Distinguished Microscopy Seminar

Imaging the molecular mechanisms of pancreatic hormone secretion

David Piston, Ph.D, Professor of Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Director Biophotonics Institute
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (Nashville, TN)

Sponsored By:

ORIED, CALS, COS, CVM & COE.

Abstract: Research in Dr. Piston’s lab focuses on molecular events involved in glucose metabolism and insulin secretion in beta cells within intact functioning pancreatic islets. They have developed unique, state-of-the-art fluorescence imaging methods to assay the response at various points along the glucose transduction pathway. The quantitative microscopy is combined with standard biochemical and molecular biological techniques to obtain unique information that bridges the gap between the known details of the glucose transduction pathway in individual beta cells and the overall glucose response of a whole islet.