Our laboratory applies high-throughput unbiased system biology approaches, i.e. metabolomics and proteomics to understand the pathogenesis of obesity-associated metabolic diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and diabetes, and their cardiovascular complications. Our group helped to develop the heavy water-based metabolic labeling approach for global proteome dynamics studies, which are currently extensively used by multiple research labs around the world. NAFLD and type 2 diabetes (T2D) afflict one-third of the US鈥檚 population. While T2D is treatable, to date, no reliable therapies exist for NAFLD, despite it being associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There is growing evidence that the dysfunction of mitochondria (the part of a cell that converts food into energy) plays a crucial role in disease propagation. Our recently funded proposal will develop a stable isotope-coupled mass spectrometry method to understand the link between metabolic disorders and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. The method developed in this study can be used in other diseases, including diabetes, neurodegeneration, cancer, etc. In collaboration with NIH we will benchmark this technique for use by other investigators.
