Presenting Author
Northeast Ohio Medical University
My long-term research goals are to study bile acid physiology and signaling within the context of alcoholic and metabolic liver disease. Bile acids are physiological detergents that also regulate glucose, cholesterol, and lipid homeostasis in the liver and gut, and systemically, by binding to the bile acid receptors farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and Takeda G protein-coupled receptor (TGR5). Bile acid synthesis is controlled FXR-mediated feedback in the liver, FXR-mediated feedback in the intestine, and circadian rhythms originating from the brain & periphery. This liver-gut-brain axis ensures the liver adapts appropriately to changes in nutrient status and time of day as well as pathological stimuli (high fat diets, dysbiosis, and ethanol consumption, for example). Continued insults to these mechanisms can result in non-alcoholic or alcoholic fatty liver disease, dyslipidemia, Type 2 diabetes, and/or obesity. It is my goal to determine 1) how non-alcoholic and alcoholic liver disease affect biliary metabolism, and 2) how the disruptions to the hepatobiliary system contribute to the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease and metabolic syndrome.