Posted on | CategoriesHealth and Disease / Internal Medicine | PI: Weiquan Zhu, PhD , Shannon J. Odelberg, PhD & Dean Y. Li, MD, PhD

ARF6 Plays Key Role in Diabetes-Induced Blindness

University of Utah Health researcher Weiquan Zhu, PhD, and colleagues identified a protein, known as ARF6, which regulates the effects of VEGF by maintaining and amplifying its receptor signaling, thus stimulating a series of cascading responses that lead to diabetic retinal edema. Continue reading → ARF6 Plays Key Role in Diabetes-Induced Blindness

Research Statement

My research has primarily focused on two major topics: 1) the role of the small GTPase ADP ribosylation factor 6 (ARF6) in regulating signaling pathways that are involved in cancer, vascular permeability, and inflammation and 2) elucidating the cellular and molecular basis of regeneration in newts. Both of these avenues of research have provided us with insights into the molecular, cellular, and extracellular mechanisms that control cell plasticity, proliferation, and migration under pathological conditions.