Lab Interests:
The Wheeler Lab is interested in developing novel strategies to assess and treat diabetes mellitus using a multidisciplinary approach. At the islet level, we focus on membrane bound proteins that control insulin secretion; including transporters, ion channels, and receptors. Of therapeutic interest are the effects of prescription and non-prescription drugs and their metabolites to promote islet/beta cell regeneration or improve islet cell function. At the systems level, we use high throughput metablomics and lipidomics screening to identify biomarkers of diabetes. Once early markers are identified, assays are performed to understand their roles mechanistically in the pathophysiology of diabetes.