Grant: Operating Grant

The overall organization of the adult intestinal epithelium is the result of several steps during development that will instruct this epithelium to express specific genes. The adequate regulation of these genes is crucial to ensure correct functions of intestinal epithelial cells for production of intestinal hormones as well as processing and transport of luminal nutrients. A defect in these features is associated with intestinal and metabolic diseases. My laboratory has identified specific proteins that can regulate intestinal genes. Published observations from my laboratory derived from animal models and cultured epithelial cell lines support the idea that these proteins are important to ensure intestinal epithelial functions. I propose to further document the mechanistic effect of genetically altering these gene regulators in mice and cultured human cellular models in relation to intestinal epithelial metabolism functions. This approach will ultimately lead to the discovery of novel targets and therapeutic strategies to limit metabolic disorders that are closely linked to intestinal pathologies.