Unconventional Insulins from Nature: Characterizations and Therapeutic Implications
Danny Chou
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University
Insulin and its related peptides are found throughout the animal kingdom where they serve diverse functional roles, including glucose homeostasis and cognition. The surprising recent discovery that venomous snails evolved specialized insulins to capture fish demonstrated the nefarious use of this hormone in nature. These unconventional insulins share low sequence homology with human insulin and have their own distinct molecular properties. In this presentation, I will present the discovery and biomedical application of these unconventional insulins using chemical biology techniques, and highlight several unique insights gained from these unusual compounds.
Danny Chou is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Endocrinology and Diabetes) at Stanford University. He received his PhD from Harvard University, working in the lab of Prof. Stuart Schreiber. His Ph.D. research involved the identification of suppressors of cytokine-induced apoptosis in pancreatic beta cells. He then moved to MIT, where he was a JDRF Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Chemical Engineering. He worked under the guidance of Profs. Robert Langer and Daniel Anderson, focusing on the development of glucose-responsive insulin derivatives. Danny started his independent career in Department of Biochemistry at University of Utah in August, 2014. At Utah, Danny's research focused on protein and peptide therapeutics for the treatment in Type 1 Diabetes and other human diseases. In 2020, Danny moved his research lab to Stanford University to continue their efforts in developing novel insulin therapeutics. His laboratory has received funding support from NIH, DoD, JDRF and American Diabetes Association. Danny has received recognitions including a JDRF Career Development Award, Vertex Scholar, JDRF Postdoctoral Fellow and ADA Junior Faculty Award.