1). How β-cells regenerate in adults
2). How stress hormones reshape metabolism
3). Circadian control of fat-cell formation
4). How hormonal timing can uncouple obesity from fatty liver
The Teruel lab studies how dynamic hormonal signals and circadian rhythms regulate metabolism, cell fate, and tissue adaptation in obesity and diabetes.
The Teruel lab investigates how dynamic hormonal signals regulate metabolism across cells, tissues, and the whole organism. We are particularly interested in circadian glucocorticoid rhythms, which are disrupted by chronic stress, sleep disruption, and shift work, and how changes in these rhythms alter metabolic physiology.
Our current work focuses on how glucocorticoid timing controls pancreatic β-cell insulin secretion and proliferation, adipose tissue remodeling, skeletal muscle insulin resistance, and glucose homeostasis. We ask how disrupted hormone rhythms can rapidly induce hyperinsulinemia, expand β-cell mass, increase adiposity, and redistribute insulin action across muscle, fat, and liver. A major goal is to understand when these responses are adaptive mechanisms that preserve glucose homeostasis and when they become maladaptive and contribute to diabetes or metabolic disease.
Biography
Mary Teruel is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine and a faculty member in the Drukier Institute for Children’s Health and Weill Center for Metabolic Health. Her research combines cell biology, quantitative live-cell imaging, mouse physiology, and systems biology to understand how dynamic hormonal and signaling networks regulate metabolism, cell fate, and tissue adaptation. Her lab focuses on circadian glucocorticoid rhythms, insulin secretion, β-cell proliferation, adipose tissue remodeling, and metabolic disease.
Distinctions:
Stanford McCormick/Gabilan Award for mentoring women in medicine and medical research
Inaugural Stanford Diabetes Research Center Diabetes Knowledge Award
Stanford Gabilan Fellow
Biochemical Journal Young Investigator Award
NIH/NHGRI Quantitative Mentored Career Development Award
NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship; NASA Graduate Student Fellowship
