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 BIOGRAPHY |
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Dr. Susan C. Frost earned her Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Arizona in 1979. Her graduate work focused on lipid metabolism in neonates. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of M. Daniel Lane at Johns Hopkins University form 1982-1985 where she studied insulin action on glucose transport in adipocytes. Dr. Frost joined the Faculty at the University of Florida in 1985. Dr. Frost served as Department Chair from 1996-1998. From 1998-2000, she was an Ad Hoc reviewer for several Study Sections within the National Institutes of Health. Since 1998, Dr. Frost has served as a member of the Editorial Board for the American Journal of Physiology and is a member of the Human Resource Committee of the ASBMB. |
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RESEARCH DESCRIPTION |
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My laboratory studies the response of adipocyte glucose transport and insulin receptor processing to glucose availability. Despite similarity, nutrients and hormones cause differential expression of the constitutive (GLUT1) and the insulin-sensitive (GLUT4) glucose transporter. We are identifying both transcriptional and post-translational regulatory mechanisms that will lead to a better understanding of diabetes and insulin resistance. The insulin receptor is synthesized as a proreceptor and then cleaved into two subunits before trafficking to the cell membrane. Glucose deprivation causes aberrant glycosylation and accumulation of the proreceptor in the ER. We propose interference with a two-step mechanism which coordinates co- and post-translational glycosylation causes accumulation and degradation, a condition that may also exist in patients with Carbohydrate-deficient Glycoprotein Syndrome. |
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