Brian Parks

In our lab, we leverage mouse and human genetics data to discover genes and pathways that contribute to metabolic diseases. Most recently, my laboratory has developed a systematic approach to integrate big data from both mice and humans to discover unknown genes involved in lipid metabolism. From this work, we identified and validated Sestrin1 as a gene that mediates feedback inhibition on cholesterol biosynthesis. Related to diabetes, we have constructed SNP-SNP interaction maps in the mouse and are currently using these maps to investigate modifiers of key metabolic signaling pathways (FOXO1 and PPAR gamma) that contribute to diabetes and obesity.