My research focusses on diabetes mellitus, a condition which currently affects almost 10% of the adult population worldwide and whose incidence is expected to increase further in the coming years. My chief goals are to develop new means to enhance insulin secretion in Type 2 diabetes by studying the fundamental signalling pathways through which glucose, incretins and other hormones act on the pancreatic β cell and the central nervous system. We deploy knowledge flowing from genome-wide and other genetic and epidemiological studies for this disease, and state-of-the-art technologies ranging from mouse models through genome editing, electrophysiology, super-resolution imaging, optogenetics, transcriptomics and proteomics.

Current projects include

1. The role of beta cell sub-populations in the control of insulin secretion
2. The mechanisms of action on insulin secretion of genes identified in genome-wide association studies
3. Role and control of beta cell "disallowed" genes
4. Actions of circulating biomarkers implicated in type 2 diabetes progression
5. Control of mitochondrial dynamics by incretins