David W Piston
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Physiology
Cells constantly send chemical signals to one another and within themselves, both to keep blood sugar in check and to sound the alarm when something goes wrong. The research here spans two such signaling problems.
- Fields
Physiology
Microbiology & Immunology
Biochemistry
- Topics
diabetes
glucagon
pancreatic alpha cells
- Grants
- 4 known grants, through Jan 2031
What they work on
- Identify which fragments of nidogen-2, a brown-fat-secreted protein, inhibit glucagon release from pancreatic alpha cells and which activate insulin receptors, building on reversal of diabetes in NOD mice.
- Determine the molecular target on pancreatic alpha cells through which nidogen-2 and its fragments suppress glucagon secretion.
- Determine how calcium released through the TRPV2 ion channel activates STING, a sensor of misplaced DNA, and test whether losing Trpv2 rescues Trex1-knockout mice that model Aicardi-Goutières syndrome.
- Define how TRPV2's physical binding to STING on the endoplasmic reticulum, and its relationship with the calcium-sensing protein STIM1, regulate STING activation.
More about the research
The first is how a protein released by brown fat could calm glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar. The second is how calcium released inside cells tunes an immune alarm system that detects stray DNA. Alongside these projects, the PI directs shared microscopy services for rheumatic disease researchers and a pilot grant program for diabetes researchers.
Why it matters
A treatment based on a fragment of nidogen-2 could be used with insulin to help people with type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes keep blood sugar near normal with lower insulin doses and fewer hypoglycemic episodes. Understanding how TRPV2 and calcium control the STING immune alarm could point to new treatment strategies for autoimmune diseases such as Aicardi-Goutières syndrome, for chronic inflammation and for cancer.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jonathan Campbell
Duke University, NC·Physiology
Test whether pericytes, cells lining blood vessels, are the main GIP receptor (GIPR)-expressing cells in fat tissue, using mouse models that mark and lineage-trace GIPR-positive cells over time.
Barak Blum
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Physiology
Test the hypothesis that reducing Robo2 receptors in beta cells, the pancreas's insulin-making cells, is essential for islets of Langerhans to expand successfully when insulin demand rises.
David Aaron Jacobson
Vanderbilt University, TN·Physiology
Determine how the calcium pump PMCA1 and sodium/calcium exchanger NCX1 control β-cell calcium removal and insulin secretion, and how diabetes alters them, using β-cell knockout mice and human pseudoislets with shRNA knockdown.
The school
Washington University in St Louis: 97 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 365 research doctorates a year.
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