Yoriko Heianza
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a worldwide health problem with serious complications. Carbohydrates strongly affect blood sugar and insulin, but people respond to them differently, partly because human genes have adapted to starchy diets.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Genetics
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
type 2 diabetes
glucose metabolism
insulin resistance
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Test whether AMY1 and AMY2 copy number variations, inherited differences in starch-digesting enzyme genes measured by droplet digital PCR, predict 7–9 year changes in glucose, HbA1c, insulin and diabetes risk in Bogalusa Heart Study adults.
- Determine whether plasma levels of AMY1 and AMY2 amylase enzymes mediate links between amylase gene copy number and glucose metabolism outcomes.
- Test whether the quantity and quality of dietary carbohydrate and starch modify associations between AMY copy number and incident hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes, using gene-diet interaction analyses.
- Examine whether circulating metabolomic signatures of carbohydrate and glucose pathways and the hormone FGF21 mediate relations between AMY copy number and diabetes outcomes.
More about the research
Amylases are the enzymes in saliva and the pancreas that break down starch. They are made from the genes AMY1 and AMY2. People carry different numbers of copies of these genes, called copy number variations (CNVs). More or fewer copies change how much amylase a person makes. Does this inherited difference shape how carbohydrate intake affects diabetes risk?
Why it matters
The results could reveal new genetic and dietary risk factors for impaired glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes. Knowing how a person's amylase gene copy number interacts with carbohydrate intake could eventually support more personalized prevention and treatment, especially in high-burden populations like those in Louisiana.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Marjorie Matocq
University of Nevada-Reno, NV·Ecology & Evolution
Identify individual copy number variation (CNV), differences in how many copies each animal carries, in detoxification genes across a woodrat hybrid zone between Neotoma fuscipes and N. macrotis, using genome sequencing.
Yang Pan
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Test whether mitochondrial DNA copy number and heteroplasmy (mutation load), measured in blood at two midlife time points, predict cognitive decline in Bogalusa Heart Study participants, with validation in the TOPMed cohort.
Rita Basu
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Medicine & Clinical Research
Map the daytime pattern of liver glucose production after meals in adults with type 2 diabetes using a stable-isotope triple-tracer approach, while estimating insulin action and beta-cell responsiveness.
The school
Tulane University of Louisiana: 17 labs on PI Pages, $276M a year on research, 187 research doctorates a year.
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