SRP Diabetes Postdoc Fellowship - Available Project
Project title: Exosomal miRNAs and effects on skeletal muscle metabolism.
Principal Investigator: Anna Krook
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
Research Project
Exosomal miRNAs and effects on skeletal muscle metabolism.
We are interested in understanding how skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity is altered, both in response to pathology such as type diabetes, and as a response to physical exercise. This fellowship programme is focused on the role of miRNAs in this regard, in particular miRNAs in small extracellular vesicles (also called exosomes. We have previously identified several miRNA which are dysregulated in skeletal muscle in subjects with type 2 diabetes, and which contribute to changes in metabolism and insulin signalling, including let7 (Jiang et al., 2013), miR-29 (Massart et al., 2017) and mIR20b (Katayama et al., 2018). Since miRNAs are able to target multiple genes simultaneously, miRNAs provide a potential mechanism for efficiently modulating a whole pathway to change or alter the functional properties in specific target tissues.
Objectives; A key observation is that primary cultures of human skeletal muscle from people with type 2 diabetes maintain an impaired response to insulin even after several passages in culture, implicating a genetic (or epigenetic) component. This project is focused on elucidating the role of exosomes, and in particular miRNA carried in exosomes in directing this effect. We aim to identify miRNAs in media from skeletal muscle cultures established from people with normal glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes. Identified miRNAs will be studied to determine functional effects of the identified miRNAs in different metabolic target tissues including skeletal muscle.
Project description
Read the complete project description.
How to apply
Link to job posting at VARBI application portal.
The closing date for applications is midnight CEST on Wednesday 31th August, 2022.