METABOLIC CORE LABORATORY

Personnel:

Jacob E. Friedman, Ph.D. (Core Director)

Dr. Friedman is currently the Metabolic Core Director and devotes 10% of his professional effort to this administering the core. Dr. Friedman has more than 15 yrs training in metabolism, biochemistry and molecular biology and has direct and extensive experience dealing with mouse, rat, and human models of insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. Dr. Friedman is responsible for the coordination and performance of this core. He provides technical and methodological advice to CNRU investigators and will supervise the Core laboratory. This includes reviewing requests for Core services, monitoring the progress of Core experiments, and assuming primary responsibility for biochemical analyses of hormones and metabolites, assays of signal transduction, and quantification of final reports. He is also be responsible for method development in conjunction with communication with affiliated core users.

Dr. Friedman took over the Metabolic core from Dr. Robert Eckel beginning in 2003. He has performed nutrition research while at Case Western Reserve and is currently director of the Molecular Biology Core Labs for UCD NIH Training Program in Perinatal Medicine. He holds appointments in the department of Pediatrics, and in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at UCD School of Medicine. He is currently principle investigator in two NIH-funded studies examining mechanisms for insulin resistance in human skeletal muscle from obese patients with gestational diabetes, and the regulation of gluconeogenesis and obesity in transgenic animal models. In addition, he collaborates with CNRU investigators on NIH-funded studies examining the influence of hormones and nutrients on regulation of fetal growth and protein synthesis. In this regard he has a long standing research interest in maintaining state-of-the-art laboratory methods in regards to molecular and cellular assays of nutritional status and obesity assessment in both humans and rodent models. Dr. Friedman’s laboratory is centrally located within the new Research Complex 1 building at Fitzsimmons within the division of Endocrinology, and thus he and his laboratory are readily available and easily accessible to CNRU Affiliated investigators. Dr. Friedman meets daily with the laboratory core staff and monthly with the CNRU Director to ensure an overall smooth and efficient operation.

Paul MacLean, Ph.D. (Core Associate Director).

Dr. MacLean is the Associate Director and devotes 5% of his professional effort to this core. His primary responsibility is performing hyperinsulinemic clamp studies in rats. Dr. Maclean also serves as an Associate Director for the Energy Balance Core for the Center for Human Nutrition animal laboratory, which provides services to researchers at UCD and private companies that involve measuring energy expenditure and energy intake in rodent models of obesity. He is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of Endocrinology and has a major interest in the metabolic adjustments that regulate energy balance and predispose animals to weight regain. Dr. MacLean along with the chief research technician will assist investigators in measurement of insulin sensitivity in rats and mice in collaboration with Dr. Friedman.

For other staff, click here.