Adaptation and failure of pancreatic beta cells in health and in diabetes
The Wortham Lab is an islet biology laboratory at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. We study how insulin-producing beta cells sense and respond to changes in their environment in healthy conditions or pathological states related to diabetes. Our research is focused on how environmental signals and cellular metabolism interface with epigenomic regulation in the beta cell to govern adaptive and maladaptive responses.
Research
Beta cells are tasked with a monumental responsibility: producing all of the insulin required for blood glucose control in a regulated and adaptable manner. By studying this process we hope to identify therapeutic strategies of co-opting adaptive mechanisms or disrupting maladaptive responses to correct the shortfall of endogenous insulin in diabetes.
