Learn more about the people and groups that further research at the Joslin Diabetes Center  |  Select an application from the list below:  |  Search JoslinResearch.org  |  Learn about JoslinResearch.org and its features  |  Contact us with questions or to let us know about problems  |  Login to use all our features
Joslin Diabetes Center Website
  Harvard Medical School
Joslin Research Home  
Harvard Medical School Joslin Research Home
Welcome to the Joslin Research Website                     
 
  Joslin Investigator:
   
  
Yu-Hua Tseng, PhD
 
Investigator Specifics:
Professional Details:
Publications
CV not available

Member of Section:
Obesity & Hormone Research

Current Fellows, Students, or Lab Members:
Daniel Espinoza
Tian-Lian Huang
Tim Schulz
Kristy Townsend, Ph.D.
Hongbin Zhang


 
 
Yu-Hua  Tseng, PhD
Assistant Investigator
Joslin Diabetes Center
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
 
11/10/1997 -  
 
 




Obesity is an epidemic health problem worldwide, and is a significant risk factor for many human diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemias, non-alcoholic fatty liver, gallstones, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and even some cancers. Obesity develops when energy intake exceed energy expenditure. Although the past two decades have shed considerable light on the mechanisms of the hypothalamic control of feeding and the transcriptional regulation underlying conversion of preadipocytes to adipocytes, surprisingly little is known about the developmental origins of adipose tissue; the exact pathways between the pluripotent stem cells and the mature adipocytes; the factors determining the fate of different types of adipose depots; and ultimately, how the central and peripheral signals are integrated to control whole body energy homeostasis.

Dr. Tseng is a NIH-funded Principal Investigator. Her long-term research interest is to understand the regulation of energy balance and use it to develop potential therapeutic approaches for obesity and related diseases. Currently, her lab focuses on identifying cellular origins and factors that determine the developmental fate and function of different adipose depots. In particular, they are interested in defining factors that promote differentiation and fuction of brown fat as they may serve as potential therapeutic approaches for the treatment of obesity. They have recently discovered that members of the family of developmental regulator, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), exert differential effects on determining brown versus white adipose cell fate.

Specific Area of Research:

1. Cellular and molecular controls that underlie the divergent developmental fate and function of brown and white adipose tissue
2. Role of bone morphogenetic proteins in the regulation of adipocyte development, mitochondrial function and energy homeostasis.
3. Integration of central and peripheral regulation of energy homeostasis





Selected References:


Zhang H, Schulz TJ, Espinoza DO, Huang TL, Emanuelli B., Kristiansen K, and Tseng YH. Crosstalk between insulin and BMP signaling systems in brown adipogenesis. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2010; 30:4224-33.

Tseng. Y.-H., Cypess, A. M., and Kahn, C. R. 2010. Cellular bioenergetics as a target for obesity therapy. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2010; 9:465-81.

Schulz, T. J. and Tseng. Y.-H. 2009. Emerging role of bone morphogenetic proteins in adipogenesis and energy metabolism. Cytokine and Growth Factor Reiew doi:10.1016 /j.cytogfr.2009.10.019

Cypess, A. M., Lehman, S., Williams, G., Tal, I., Rodman, D., Goldfine, A. B., Kuo, F. C., Palmer, E. L., Tseng, Y.-H.; Doria, A., Kolodny, G. M., Kahn, C. R.. 2009. Identification and significance of brown adipose tissue in human adult. New England Journal of Medicine 360: 1509-1517

Tseng, Y.-H., Kokkotou, E., Schulz, T. Huang, T. L.,Taniguchi, C. M., Tran, T. T., Suzuki, R., Y., J., Espinoza, D. O., Winnay, J. N., Yamamoto, Y., Ahrens, M. J., Dudley, A. T., Norris, A. W., Kulkarni, R. N. and Kahn, C. R.. Novel role of bone morphogenetic protein-7 in brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure. Nature 454: 1000-1004, 2008.

Tseng, Y.-H. and He, T.-C.. Bone morphogenetic proteins and adipocyte differentiation. Cell Science Reviews Vol. 3, No.3, p342-360, 2007.

Gesta, S., Tseng, Y.-H. and Kahn, C. R.. Developmental origin of fat: tracking obesity to its source. Cell 131:242-256, 2007

Tseng Y-H, Butte AJ, Kokkotou E, Yechoor VK, Taniguchi CM, Kriauciunas KM, Cypess AL, Niinobe M, Yoshikawa K, Patti ME, Kahn CR. Prediction of preadipocyte differentiation by gene expression reveals role of insulin receptor substrates and necdin. Nature Cell Biology 7:601-611, 2005.

Gunton, JE, Kulkarni, RN, Yim, S, Okada, T, Hawthorne, WJ, Tseng, Y-H, Roberson, RS, Ricordi, C, O’Connell, PJ, Gonzalez, FJ and Kahn, CR. Loss of ARNT/HIF1b mediates altered gene expression and pancreatic islet dysfunction in human type 2 diabetes. Cell 122: 337-349, 2005.

Tseng Y-H, Kriauciunas KM, Kokkotou E, and Kahn CR. Differential roles of insulin receptor substrates in brown adipocyte differentiation. Molecular and Cellular Biology 24:1918-1929, 2004.

Tseng Y-H, Ueki KK, Kriauciunas M, Kahn CR. Differential roles of insulin receptor substrates in the anti-apoptotic function of insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 277:31601-31611, 2002.