Abstract

Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells To Model Metabolic Disorders

Ludovic Vallier, Professor, University Of Cambridge

Common diseases of western society, including diabetes and and fatty liver disease are known to have multifactorial causes and result from a combination of genetic and environmental influences. Many of these disorders are secondary to the deregulation of lipid and glucose metabolism that is associated with the so called “metabolic syndrome”. Although there are clear environmental influences, such as western diet and sedentary lifestyle, some individuals and population groups are more likely to develop such disorders than. The molecular mechanisms allowing genetic variants to establish this variation in disease susceptibility remain largely unknown, thus hampering the development of therapeutics that target etiologic molecular mechanisms. Here, I will describe how the unique characteristics of human pluripotent stem cells can be exploited to investigate the molecular mechanisms of genetic disorders affecting metabolic organs such as the liver and the pancreas. The resulting culture systems provide in vitro models for the study of disease but also and novel platform for drug screening.