Alan R. Saltiel
Encyclopedia
Life Sciences Institute
The Life Sciences Institute is a collaborative, independent research institution located on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It encompasses 25 faculty-led teams from 13 departments of various schools and colleges within the U-M...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
; a professor at the Division of Molecular Genetics
Molecular genetics
Molecular genetics is the field of biology and genetics that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level. The field studies how the genes are transferred from generation to generation. Molecular genetics employs the methods of genetics and molecular biology...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Medical School; a faculty member at the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center; a member of the Steering Committee Member at the Center for Advancing Research & Solutions for Society. He has served as the Director of the Life Sciences Institute since 2001. He is also a John Jacob Abel Collegiate Professor of the Life Sciences at the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the UM Medical School. He holds an AB from Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
(1975) and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
(1980).
Saltiel's lab researches signaling pathways in insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
action.
Such research is aimed at identifying the various ways in which problems with the insulin signaling pathway trigger diabetes. Researchers in the lab have also uncovered new hormone signaling pathways and the role that protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
s and gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
s play in this process. These discoveries may reveal how the insulin-glucose balance necessary for the survival of the cell is lost due to obesity in those with diabetes.
Awards and achievements
Saltiel has received many awards over the course of his career, including the Rosalyn Yalow Research and Development Award from the American Diabetes AssociationAmerican Diabetes Association
The American Diabetes Association is a United States-based association working to fight the consequences of diabetes, and to help those affected by diabetes...
, Hirschl Award, and The John Jacob Abel Award from ASPET
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics is an American academic society founded in late 1908 by John J. Abel of Johns Hopkins University , with the aim of promoting the growth of pharmacological research...
. He has published 230 original papers, has issued 15 patents, and is often cited in biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
literature. With 9,095 citations, he is the 20th most cited scientist in biology and biochemistry.
His true dream is to star for the New York Knicks.