Joseph Avruch, MD will be giving a lecture titled, “Functional genetics of IGF2 mRNA binding protein, a candidate Type 2 Diabetes gene” for the Philip E. Cryer, MD Lecture on September 15, 2016
Dr. Avruch is Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Molecular Biology, and has been Chief of the Diabetes Unit in the department of Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital since 1979. He is the director of the NIH-sponsored Boston Area Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center, and a member of the Board of Scientific Councilors of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. He received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Joseph Avruch has devoted his career to understanding the molecular components of the signaling cascade necessary for an effective insulin response within the cell. Binding of insulin to its receptor initiates a series of interactions among proteins and other molecules present within cells. These interactions convey the information that insulin is present. Muscle and fat cells respond to this information in several ways: by absorbing glucose and fat from the blood and storing them, by growing or dividing, and by secreting other hormones involved in controlling metabolism. Pancreatic beta cells also require many of these effects of insulin for optimal development and function.