John Ussher

Biography

Associate Professor at University of Alberta Associate Professor at University of Alberta

Research Interest

Understanding how alterations in energy metabolism contribute to obesity-related metabolic disorders including insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Ongoing research projects in the laboratory include: 1) Active investigation into how modulating ketone body metabolism in the skeletal muscle can protect against obesity-induced insulin resistance and the development of type 2 diabetes. 2) Understanding the mechanisms driving cardiac insulin resistance during obesity/type 2 diabetes, with a focus on insulin resistance of specific pathways of insulin signalling in the heart that cause heart failure in patients with obesity/type 2 diabetes. 3) Ongoing studies in the lab aim to identify how epigenetic alterations to genes implicated in the control of energy metabolism are passed on from obese pregnant mother to child that increase the risk for early onset obesity.