Han Tan
University of California-Irvine, CA·Neuroscience·Early-career
Diabetes is usually thought of as a disease of the pancreas, liver, muscle and fat. Yet the brain also helps set blood sugar levels.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Physiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
diabetes
insulin resistance
glucose homeostasis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2030
What they work on
- Test whether BNC2 neurons, leptin-sensing cells in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, control the function of glucose-regulating organs through direct nerve connections.
- Profile cell-specific changes in target organs caused by BNC2 neuron activity using multiplexed single-nucleus RNA sequencing, then confirm the pathways with genetic tools.
- Evaluate whether changing BNC2 neuron activity improves glucose metabolism in mouse models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
More about the research
The hypothalamus, a small region that controls hunger and body balance, plays a key part. When it fails, diabetes can follow. How the brain controls blood sugar is still poorly understood, and that limits new treatments.
Why it matters
Diabetes affects huge numbers of people and is costly to treat. By showing how BNC2 neurons in the brain control blood sugar, this work could point to new brain-based treatment targets for type 1 and type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Yumei Feng Earley
University of Rochester, NY·Neuroscience
Test whether (pro)renin receptor (PRR) signaling in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons of the hypothalamus (THPVN neurons) impairs glucose balance, using neuron-specific targeting and wireless blood glucose monitoring in mice.
Rexford Ahima
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Physiology
Investigate how muscle IPMK, an energy-sensing enzyme, controls fuel use in living mice at rest and during exercise, using mice in which IPMK is deleted only in skeletal muscle.
Alejandro Caicedo
University of Miami, FL·Physiology
Uncover how nutrients sensed in the gut activate entero-pancreatic neurons, using live-animal calcium imaging of pancreatic cells while different contents are perfused through the duodenum in mice.
The school
University of California-Irvine: 46 labs on PI Pages, $645M a year on research, 524 research doctorates a year.
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