The goal of our research is to delineate mechanisms underlying the mutual regulation between cell division and metabolism by combining mouse genetics, cell biology, biochemistry and cryo-EM structure. Perturbation of this regulation leads to cancer and metabolic diseases. We have discovered a critical role of cell division regulators in insulin signaling through regulating insulin receptor endocytosis. Our findings link aneuploidy-suppressing genes to insulin signaling and suggest a mechanism by which a circulating hormone may regulate genomic stability. Our laboratory will study the role of cell division regulators in insulin signaling, and we will expand it to other receptor tyrosine kinases to discover how systemic signaling communicates with cell division process to maintain both genomic stability and metabolic homeostasis.
