Fat-cell biologist Perry Bickel Joins UT’s fight against obesity
HOUSTON–(Oct. 30, 2007)–The director of the new Center for Diabetes and Obesity Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is tackling the obesity crisis in the United States by attempting to remodel the molecular machinery of fat storage in cells.
Perry E. Bickel, M.D., Director of the IMM's Center for Diabetes and Obesity Research
(Photo by John Everett)
Recently recruited to launch the center, molecular cell biologist and endocrinologist Perry E. Bickel, M.D., is using his expertise in the packaging and storage of fat in cells to address a host of obesity-related health problems that plague many Americans.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since the mid-1970s, the prevalence of obesity has increased sharply for both adults and children. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and some cancers.
“For decades, we have been studying how fats are transported from tissue to tissue,” said Bickel, whose research center is one of nine in the university’s Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM). “Much less attention has been paid to the questions of how fat is stored and transported within cells.”
“Dr. Bickel has made major discoveries in fat-cell biology with implications for human diabetes and obesity,” said IMM Director and CEO C. Thomas Caskey, M.D. “He is an example of a modern physician-scientist who has mastered the skills of patient care as well as fundamental disease mechanisms.”
“The fat cell is the professional at storing fat,” Bickel said. “But, the storage capacity of our fat tissue can be exceeded. When that happens, fatty acids spill over into other tissues such as muscle and liver, and those tissues may malfunction in ways that lead to diabetes and other complications.”
Bickel’s research focuses on the lipid (fat) droplets found inside cells. He studies a family of proteins that coat the droplets and organize fat packaging for storage and fat breakdown for energy production. “If we can manipulate these proteins through new medications or diet, we can promote the burning rather than storage of fat in our cells and muscle tissue,” Bickel said.
Bickel’s contributions to fat-cell biology include the discovery and characterization of the first lipid droplet protein in the perilipin family that is linked to fat burning. He named this protein OXPAT because it is found in tissues, such as the heart, that burn (oxidize) large amounts of fatty acids. He and his coworkers also have identified steps in the building of lipid droplets in fat cells. “Our work suggests that some of these coat proteins protect fat cells against the toxic effects of sudden increases in fat, such as may occur after a large fatty meal.”
This illustration shows proteins coating the surface of lipid droplets within a fat cell exposed to high levels of sugar and fat. (Courtesy of Dr. Perry Bickel)
Bickel’s IMM research center was recently visited by Rudolf Zechner, Ph.D., an accomplished lipid biochemist from Austria, who is recognized for his contributions about how lipolysis (fat breakdown) is regulated in cells.
“Dr. Bickel’s work sheds new light on the dynamic nature of fat tissue and its important role for fuel homeostasis in the body,” said Heinrich Taegtmeyer, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cardiology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. “His fundamental research may provide clues for effective treatment of obesity, diabetes, and many forms of heart disease.”
In addition to further tests on the effects of altering lipid droplet proteins in animal models Bickel plans to look for differences in the genes expressing these proteins in healthy individuals and those with heart disease or type 2 diabetes.
Bickel is particularly interested in an intriguing relationship between elevated fat stores in muscles cells and the body’s ability to utilize insulin, a blood-sugar regulating hormone. While elevated fat stores can be found in the muscle cells of both endurance athletes and of people with type 2 diabetes, the athletes are sensitive to insulin and those with type 2 diabetes are resistant to insulin. “This paradox has not been explained,” he said. “And, I predict that we’ll find the lipid droplets within muscles of such athletes will have different coat proteins than those that coat the lipid droplets of people with type 2 diabetes.”
Further studies are planned for the fat burning lipid droplet protein first reported by Bickel and colleagues last year. “My goal is to translate this information to prevent diabetes and obesity in the first place, or at least to stop its complications,” he said.
“He is a physician-scientist with significant clinical experience who is adept at translating new laboratory discoveries into clinical teaching and practice in the management of patients with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes,” said Philip R. Orlander, M.D., interim chair of the UT Medical School’s Department of Internal Medicine, where Bickel also has a faculty appointment. “He will be playing an important role in educating our residents and fellows and planting the seeds for future clinical investigators.”
Prior to joining the UT-Houston faculty, Bickel served as an associate professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. He was a research fellow in medicine at the Harvard Medical School and received his clinical training in internal medicine and endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Bickel’s medical degree is from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
A native Houstonian, Bickel and his wife, Sarah Barlow, an expert in childhood obesity who was recruited to Texas Children’s Hospital, live in Bellaire with their son, daughter and dog.