Home Department: undeclared
Mentor: Paul Khavari (Dermatology)

“Investigating the Energy-Independent Role of Glucose in Insulin Response”

The Khavari Lab has established an energy-independent role for glucose in which glucose binds to proteins to change their oligomerization and function. They have discovered an additional glucose-binding protein—TSC22D4, an insulin-responsive transcriptional repressor—and hypothesize that glucose is necessary during insulin signaling not only as a source of energy but through direct TSC22D4-glucose interactions. In their model, glucose binds TSC22D4, causing the protein to de-dimerize and release DNA to promote transcription of insulin-responsive genes. Vivian will be testing this model by using biochemical assays to confirm that glucose binding causes TSC22D4 to de-dimerize and changes in DNA interactions, as well as functional assays in cell culture to establish the role of TSC22D4 in insulin response.