Personal statement
Gwyn did his undergraduate Biochemistry degree at the University of Southampton. He followed this with a PhD at the same institution with Professor Tony Lee on the biophysics and membrane protein/lipid interactions, graduating in 1986. He then moved to Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, working with Professor Gustav E. Lienhard, where he began his interest in glucose transport. He moved to the University of Glasgow in 1989 developing his interest in the structure and function of glucose transporters and the cell biology of membrane trafficking. He and his laboratory moved to SIPBS in October 2019.
Studies in Gwyn’s group seek to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms which regulate glucose transport in adipocytes, cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle. Studies focus upon identifying the molecular machinery that control GLUT4 function, defining how this machinery interacts with the insulin signalling system, and defining how these processes are impaired in disease.
Lab web site: https://gwyngould.wixsite.com/strathclydelab
Research interests
A major consequence of insulin action is a dramatic increase in the rate of glucose transport into fat and muscle. This is achieved by the delivery of the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT4 from insulin-sensitive intracellular stores to the cell surface. Insulin-stimulated glucose transport is impaired in Type-2 diabetes; this is underpinned by reduced delivery of GLUT4 to the cell surface. Metabolic disorders such as Type-2 diabetes are linked to the development of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease represents the single biggest cause of death in T2DM and is independent of concurrent vascular disease. Our lab uses cellular and systems biology approaches to understand insulin-regulated GLUT4 trafficking in different cells.
Our lab uses a range of experimental systems and approaches. These include studies of cultured adipocytes and genome-edited adipocytes, and iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes as our work-horse models, and employ approaches including imaging techniques such as confocal microscopy and dSTORM, analysis of signalling and trafficking in subcellular fractions and analysis of transport kinetics in intact cells. We also employ Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a tool to study membrane trafficking.
Professional activities
- MPhil by thesis, Examination
- Examiner
- 15/11/2019
- Cells (Journal)
- Editorial board member
- 2019
- Development of a model of insulin-stimulated glucose transport in human cardiomyocytes
- Recipient
- 1/12/2018
- Edinburgh International Science festival
- Recipient
- 2018
- Scientific Reports (Journal)
- Editorial board member
- 2017
- PeerJ (Journal)
- Editorial board member
- 2017
More professional activities
Projects
- RABEP2 is a novel GSK3 substrate that represents a single therapeutic target to reduce both hyperglycemia and microvascular disease in diabetes
- Gould, Gwyn (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2023
- Development of a model of insulin-stimulated glucose transport in human cardiomyocytes (Transfer from UoG)
- Gould, Gwyn (Principal Investigator)
- 07-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2020
More projects
Address
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Hamnett Wing
Hamnett Wing
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