Our laboratory focuses on understanding of metabolic regulatory mechanisms, and the application of this knowledge for gaining insights into chronic conditions and diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Key projects in the lab include: 1) Molecular and biochemical mechanisms of fuel-mediated insulin secretion and their impairment in obesity and diabetes; 2) Mechanisms of pancreatic beta-cell growth and survival; 3) Regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism in liver; 4) Mechanisms by which metabolic alterations in liver affect peripheral (e.g muscle) fuel metabolism. The laboratory employs a highly interdisciplinary approach to each of these projects, including gene discovery (microarray analysis), genetic engineering, enzymology and biochemistry, and state-of-the-art tools for metabolic analysis including flux measurements by stable isotope NMR and metabolic profiling by mass spectrometry. In his role as Director of the Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center, Dr. Newgard has also formed a clinical research team that is applying comprehensive metabolic and biomarker profiling to obese humans as they lose weight by eight different interventions that are available on the Duke campus or in the surrounding community.
