Sami Bazzi
Pronouns: He/Him/His
UROP Fellowship: CCSFP, Henry Ford College
Research Mentor(s): Md Maroof Alam, PhD and Peter Arvan, MD, PhD
Research Mentor Institution/Department: Michigan Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine
Presentation Date: Wednesday, August 4th
Session: Session 2 (4pm-4:50pm EDT)
Breakout Room: Room 3
Presenter: 3
Abstract
Diabetes affects 27.8% of the US population. The disease alters the synthesis of insulin hormone that regulates glucose homeostasis. Pancreatic beta cells play a major role in the biosynthesis of insulin. There is a need to understand the biochemical pathway that permits the survivability of beta cells and their secretory pathway. Our laboratory studies how the misfolding of insulin precursor protein—“proinsulin” in beta cells affects insulin biosynthesis. We employed genetically modified mice that exhibit different mutations on the misfolding of proinsulin to determine how the production of insulin is affected. My project consists of the cell culture of HEK-293T and Min6 cells. First, we will transfect these cells (HEK-293T or Min6) with wild-type or mutant proinsulin to check whether mutant creates misfolding within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) or not. Secondly, we will check the secretion of proinsulin in WT as well as in mutant from the cells. Improper folding or misfolding of proinsulin within ER affects insulin synthesis and secretion. Experimental approaches to address this problem will include, reducing, non-reducing SDS PAGE, immunoblotting, and ELISA. Overall, our goal in this project is to understand the role of diabetes-relevant mutation in the insulin gene in modulating proinsulin folding in beta cells.
Authors: Sami Bazzi, Md Maroof Alam, Anoop Arunagiri, and Peter Arvan
Research Method: Laboratory Research with Animals
