Ren Zhang
Wayne State University, MI·Biochemistry
Overeating can throw the body's energy balance out of order, and this breakdown underlies common diseases such as fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes. Inside cells, two related molecules, NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) and its phosphorylated form NADP, act as electron carriers that power energy metabolism.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Physiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
mitochondrial NAD kinase
energy metabolism
energy homeostasis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether MNADK, the mitochondrial NAD kinase, preserves liver energy balance and insulin sensitivity and reduces risk of NASH and type 2 diabetes, using genetically engineered mouse models.
- Test whether high-fat-diet-induced S-nitrosylation of MNADK, a chemical modification that represses its activity, drives fatty liver and insulin resistance in mice.
- Decipher how MNADK maintains mitochondrial function and antioxidant protection, using molecular and cellular approaches and bioinformatics.
- Define how MNADK regulates acetylation of major mitochondrial regulators and metabolic enzymes that shape how cells adapt to metabolic challenges.
More about the research
An enzyme called NAD kinase makes NADP by adding a phosphate to NAD. How mitochondria, the cell's energy-producing compartments, make their own NADP was long unknown.
Why it matters
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes affect up to 30% of people in the United States. Showing how MNADK protects liver energy balance and insulin sensitivity, and how overnutrition shuts it down, could identify a new target for preventing or treating these metabolic diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Yong-Xu Wang
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Physiology
Test whether a newly identified adipokine, a hormone released by fat tissue, resolves NASH and associated metabolic problems in two different NASH mouse models.
Shuxia Wang
University of Kentucky, KY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how the macrophage protein SMPDL3B regulates the receptor CD36 and the inflammatory signaling triggered when TSP1, a signaling protein, binds CD36.
Hang Shi
Georgia State University, GA·Physiology
Test whether deleting or overexpressing Uhmk1, a gene that supports nerve-fiber growth, in mouse sympathetic neurons changes nerve supply to fat, brown/beige fat heat production and energy expenditure during cold exposure.
The school
Wayne State University: 21 labs on PI Pages, $292M a year on research, 194 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.