Research Interest
The main pathological features common to obesity and diabetes are the deregulation of nutrient and energy homeostasis. Studying the signaling pathways involved in nutrient and energy homeostasis could lead to better understanding of pathophysiology of metabolic disorders. We are interested in understanding how cells sense and integrate signals from growth factors and from nutrients to mediate metabolic responses, and how such signaling pathway is deregulated in pathological conditions. Integrating the use of biochemistry, molecular biology, mouse model and patient samples, we aim to define deregulation of signaling pathway that may lead to impairment of nutrient and energy homeostasis. This body of work will provide a physiological basis to identify molecular targets with great potential value in the development of therapeutic strategies to treat metabolic disorders. Sung Hee Um was awarded TJ Park Science Fellowship from POSCO TJ Park foundation, and a grant from Samsung science & technology Foundation.