Morris J. Birnbaum, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine
The Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases
Associate Director
Associate Director
Director, T2DM Unit
Member, Executive Committee
Department: Medicine
Graduate Group Affiliations
Contact information
322 Clinical Research Building
415 Curie Blvd
Philadelphia, PA 19104
415 Curie Blvd
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: (215) 898-5001
Fax: (215) 573-9138
Fax: (215) 573-9138
Email:
birnbaum@mail.med.upenn.edu
birnbaum@mail.med.upenn.edu
Publications
Education
A.B.
Brown University, 1973.
Ph.D. (Physiological Chemistry)
Brown University, 1977.
M.D.
Brown University, 1978.
A.B.
Brown University, 1973.
Ph.D. (Physiological Chemistry)
Brown University, 1977.
M.D.
Brown University, 1978.
Post-Graduate Training
Resident in Internal Medicine, Barnes Hospital Washington University, 1979-1981.
Research Associate, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, 1984-1987.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Francisco, 1981-1984.
Intern, Barnes Hospital Washington University, 1978-1979.
Resident in Internal Medicine, Barnes Hospital Washington University, 1979-1981.
Research Associate, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, 1984-1987.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Francisco, 1981-1984.
Intern, Barnes Hospital Washington University, 1978-1979.
Certifications
American Board of Internal Medicine Certificate, 1981.
American Board of Medical Examiners, 1979.
Permanent linkAmerican Board of Internal Medicine Certificate, 1981.
American Board of Medical Examiners, 1979.
Description of Research Expertise
Research InterestsThe regulation of growth and metabolism
Key words: Insulin, growth, Akt/PKB, diabetes, drosophila, metabolism, glucose transport, membrane protein trafficking, signal transduction.
Description of Research
The ability to respond to nutritional stress is one of the most primitive adaptations that organism must accomplish. The pathways that alert the organism to an absence of food and initiate an appropriate response are remarkably well-conserved and involve such critical signaling molecules as the protein kinases Akt and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) as well as nutrient sensors such as the carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP).
The Birnbaum lab studies this complex biological response in two contexts: the initiation of cell growth after a transition from nutritional deprivation to abundance and the insulin-dependent redistribution of simple substrates into long-term energy stores. The latter process involves a number of distinct but interacting components such as glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and the insulin-dependent acceleration of hepatic lipid synthesis and glucose uptake into adipocytes and muscle. Two aspects of the regulation of glucose transport by insulin, both of which are studied in the Birnbaum lab, are the way in which insulin regulates the movement of hormone-sensitive Glut4 glucose transporter from the inside of the cell to the plasma membrane, and the signaling pathway by which insulin accomplishes this. There are also a number of projects underway aimed at understanding how the evolutionarily conserved sensor of nutritional stress, AMP-activated protein kinase, regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism. These fundamental biological problems are addressed using experiments performed in tissue culture cells, mice and the genetically tractable organism Drosophila melanogaster.
Rotation projects for 2006-2007
Please contact Dr. Birnbaum for projects.
Lab personnel:
Sarah Choi, Graduate student
Justin DiAngelo, Graduate Student
Katie Gleason, Graduate Student
Karla Leavens, Graduate Student
Rachael Easton, Postdoctoral Fellow
Xinghai Li, Postdoctoral Fellow
David Tucker, Postdoctoral Fellow
Sung-Ro Jo, Postdoctoral Fellow
Michelle Bland, Postdoctoral Fellow
Pieter van den Heuvel, Postdoctoral Fellow
Mingjian Lu, Postdoctoral Fellow
Danielle Gross, Postdoctoral Fellow
Charles Drummer, Undergraduate
Ed Williamson, Research Specialist
Bob Monks, Research Assistant
Qingwei Chu, Research Assistant
Maureen Victoria, Research Assistant
Ann Farrell, Technician
ZaiFang Yu, Technician
Cass Lutz, Administrator
Selected Publications
Whiteman, E. L., Cho, H., and Birnbaum, M. J. : Role of Akt/Protein Kinase B in Metabolism. Trends Endocrin. Metab 13: 444-51, 2002.Mu, J., Brozinick, J.T., Valladares, O., Bucan, M., and Birnbaum, M.J.: A Role for AMP-activated Protein Kinase in Contraction and Hypoxia Regulated Glucose Transport in Skeletal Muscle. Molecular Cell 7: 1085-1094, 2001.
Cho, H., Mu, J., Kim, J. K., Thorvaldson, J. L., Chu, Q., Crenshaw, E. B., Kaestner, K. H., Bartolomei, M. S., Shulman, G. I., Birnbaum, M. J.: Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Mellitus in Mice Lacking Akt2/PKB. Science 292: 1728-31, 2001.
Tuttle, R.L., Gill, N. S, Pugh, W., Lee, J.-P., Koeberlein, B., Furth, E. E., Polonsky, K. S., Naji, A., and Birnbaum, M.J.: Regulation of Pancreatic Beta Cell Size and Survival by the Serine/Threonine Protein Kinase Akt/PKB. Nature Medicine 7(10): 1133-7, 2001.
Miron, M., Verdu, J., Lachance, P. E. D., Birnbaum, M. J., Lasko, P. F. and Sonenberg, N: The Translational Inhibitor 4E-BP is an Effector of PI3K/Akt Signaling in Drosophila, and Regulates Cell Growth. Nature Cell Biol 3: 596-601, 2001.
