Thomas Jetton, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Vanderbilt School of Medicine, TN
- Vanderbilt University, TN
- Western Carolina University, NC
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, 2015-present
BIO
Summary of Professional Activities
My current effort is allocated towards research, teaching, and university-wide service. I am a broadly trained biologist with a range of teaching and research interests in the life and medical sciences. Although over the last 34 years my academic endeavors have largely been devoted to basic research, I have maintained a commitment to teaching, advising, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, pre-med/veterinary students, post-docs, medical students/fellows, and physician scientists.
Current Research Interests
My early work at UVM identified essential mechanisms of how pancreatic b-cell mass increases in response to a range of physiological and pathophysiological insults. More recently I study how dietary factors and the brain control b-cell growth and maintain steady state mass. Our work has bearing on the potential strategies to maintain b-cell mass and/or improve their health and curtail immune destruction in diabetic patients. This has been learned from studies (1) identifying and characterizing a drug targetable b-cell receptor (a7nAChR) that improves ß-cell function and survival and (2) testing the effects of specific dairy-derived nutrients on metabolic health (with Dr. J. Kraft). In a collaborative project with the USDA, I am spearheading studies examining how environmental exposures lead to increased risk for metabolic diseases and how this might be mitigated through dietary or pharmacologic manipulation.
Publications
Visit PubMed to view publications
Awards and Achievements
2024 - Sarah Nichols Gruenig Green and Gold Professor of Diabetes Research
Area(s) of expertise
Regenerative biology of pancreatic islets; integrative physiology; diet and neural control of glucose homeostasis; environmental risk for metabolic disease; endocrinology; microscopic anatomy; science communication
Bio
Summary of Professional Activities
My current effort is allocated towards research, teaching, and university-wide service. I am a broadly trained biologist with a range of teaching and research interests in the life and medical sciences. Although over the last 34 years my academic endeavors have largely been devoted to basic research, I have maintained a commitment to teaching, advising, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, pre-med/veterinary students, post-docs, medical students/fellows, and physician scientists.
Current Research Interests
My early work at UVM identified essential mechanisms of how pancreatic b-cell mass increases in response to a range of physiological and pathophysiological insults. More recently I study how dietary factors and the brain control b-cell growth and maintain steady state mass. Our work has bearing on the potential strategies to maintain b-cell mass and/or improve their health and curtail immune destruction in diabetic patients. This has been learned from studies (1) identifying and characterizing a drug targetable b-cell receptor (a7nAChR) that improves ß-cell function and survival and (2) testing the effects of specific dairy-derived nutrients on metabolic health (with Dr. J. Kraft). In a collaborative project with the USDA, I am spearheading studies examining how environmental exposures lead to increased risk for metabolic diseases and how this might be mitigated through dietary or pharmacologic manipulation.
Publications
Awards and Achievements
2024 - Sarah Nichols Gruenig Green and Gold Professor of Diabetes Research
Areas of Expertise
Regenerative biology of pancreatic islets; integrative physiology; diet and neural control of glucose homeostasis; environmental risk for metabolic disease; endocrinology; microscopic anatomy; science communication