Gregory Graf

Gregory Graf received a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University, Tex, USA, in 1994 and a Ph.D. degree in physiology from the University of Kentucky, Ky, USA, in 2000. After completing postdoctoral training at the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, he accepted a faculty position at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Kentucky in 2004. His research focuses on obesity-related complications that include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and gall stone formation. Specifically, we study the role that ABC transporters play in determining whether lipids and cholesterol are stored, metabolized, or excreted from the body. The research program is currently focused on two transport proteins. The ABCG5 ABCG8 sterol transporter is situated on the apical surfaces of hepatocytes and enterocytes where it promotes the excretion of cholesterol and plant sterols into the bile and intestinal lumen, respectively. Our work has focused on the posttranslational regulation of this complex in vivo and in vitro and suggests that leptin directly regulates the abundance of this complex. More recently, we have developed an interest in ABCD2, a peroxisomal transporter that is highly abundant in adipose tissue and facilitates the clearance of dietary very long chain monounsaturated fatty acids. Our work suggests that this transporter, like many other ABC transporters, has numerous substrates with a variety of biological activities that include modulation of insulin signaling, lipid metabolism, and inflammation.

Biography Updated on 9 September 2009

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