Sabrina Diano, PhD

Sabrina Diano, Ph.D.
Professor
Email: sabrina.diano@yale.edu
Phone: 737-1216

Dr. Sabrina Diano is a Tenure Professor in Departments of Cellular & Molecular Physiology, Neurobiology and Comparative Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine and Graduate School. She is also part of the Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM), and Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program here at Yale. She graduated with honors from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy. She conducted her post doctoral studies here at Yale where she became faculty in 2000.

Her research focuses on CNS (hypothalamic) mechanisms relating to the regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis. Her studies on hypothalamic inter- and intra-cellular mechanisms that regulates energy metabolism add critical information to the current understanding of the central regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis and how alterations in stored energy are sensed in the hypothalamus. The results of her research have important implications for understanding the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome, obesity and type 2 diabetes, disorders that are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S., and the developed world in general, with the highest financial burden on the National economy.

Selected Publications:

Toda C, Santoro A, Kim JD, Diano S. (2017) POMC neurons: From birth to Death. Annu Rev Physiol. 79:209-236. doi: 10.1146/annurev-physiol-022516-034110. PMID: 28192062

Santoro A, Campolo M, Liu C, Sesaki H, Meli R, Liu ZW, Kim JD, Diano S. (2017) DRP1 suppresses leptin and glucose sensing of POMC neurons. Cell Metab. 25(3):647-660. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.01.003. Epub 2017 Feb 9. PMID: 28190775

Toda C, Kim JD, Impellizzeri D, Cuzzocrea S, Liu ZW, Diano S (2016) UCP2 regulates mitochondrial fission and ventromedial nucleus control of glucose responsiveness. Cell 164(5):872-83. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.02.010. PMID: 26919426

Koch M, Varela L, Kim JG, Kim JD, Hernandez F, Simonds SE, Castorena CM, Vianna CR, Elmquist JK, Morozov YM, Rakic P, Bechmann I, Cowley MA, Szigeti-Buck K, Dietrich MO, Gao X-B, Diano S, Horvath TL (2015) Hypothalamic POMC neurons promote cannabinoid-induced feeding. Nature 519(7541):45-50. doi: 10.1038/nature14260. Epub 2015 Feb 18.

Long L, Toda C, Jeong JK, Horvath TL, Diano S(2014) PPARg-deficient POMC neurons preserve weight control on obesogenic diet. J Clin Invest 124(9):4017-27. doi: 10.1172/JCI76220. PMID: 25083994

Kim JD, Toda C, D'Agostino G, Zeiss CJ, DiLeone RJ, Elsworth JD, Kibbey RG, Chan O, Harvey BK, Richie CT, Savolainen M, Myöhännen T, Jeong JK, Diano S. (2014) Hypothalamic prolyl endopeptidase (PREP) regulates pancreatic insulin and glucagon secretion in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111(32):11876-81. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1406000111. PMID: 25071172

Jeong JK, Diano S(2013) Prolyl carboxypeptidase and its inhibitors in metabolism. Trend in Endocrinology and Metabolism 24(2):61-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2012.11.001. Epub 2012 Dec 12.PMID: 23245768.

Diano S, Horvath TL (2012) Mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 in glucose and lipid metabolism. Trends in Molecular Medicine 18(1):52-8.

Diano S, Liu ZW, Jeong JK, Dietrich MO, Ruan HB, Kim E, Suyama S, Kelly K, Gyengesi E, Arbiser JL, Belsham DD, Sarruf DA, Schwartz MW, Bennett A, Shanabrough M, Mobbs CV, Yang X, Gao XB, Horvath TL (2011) Peroxisome proliferation-related hypothalamic control of ROS sets melanocortin tone and feeding in diet-induced obesity. Nature Medicine 2011 17(9):1121-7.

Wallingford N, Perroud B, Gao Q, Coppola A, Gyengesi E, Liu ZW, Gao XB, Diament A, Haus KA, Shariat-Madar Z, Mahdi F, Wardlaw SL, Schmaier AH, Warden CH, Diano S. (2009) Prolylcarboxypeptidase regulates food intake by inactivating alpha-MSH in rodents. J Clin Invest. 119(8):2291-303.

Andrews ZB, Liu ZW, Wallingford N, Erion DM, Borok E, Friedman JM, Tschoep MH, Shanabrough M, Cline GM, Shulman GI, Coppola A, Gao XB, Horvath TL, Diano S (2008) UCP2 mediates ghrelin’s action on NPY/AgRP neurons. Nature 454(7206):846-51.

Gao Q, Mezei G, Nie Y, Rao Y, Choi CS, Bechmann I, Leranth C, Toran-Allerand D, Priest CA, Roberts JL, Gao XB, Mobbs C, Shulman GI, Diano S, Horvath TL. (2007) Anorectic estrogen mimics leptin's effect on the rewiring of melanocortin cells and Stat3 signaling in obese animals. Nature Medicine. 13(1):89-94.

Coppola A, Liu ZW, Andrews ZB, Paradis E, Roy MC, Friedman JM, Ricquier D, Richard D, HorvathTL, Gao XB, Diano S. (2007) A central thermogenic-like mechanism in feeding regulation: an interplay between arcuate nucleus T3 and UCP2. Cell Metabolism 5:21-33.