Amnon Schlegel,
MD, PhD
Languages Spoken: English
Labs: Website
Dr. Schlegel is a board certified specialist in Adult Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. Dr. Schlegel sees patients with lipid disorders at the Utah Diabetes and Endocrinology Center on a referral basis. He sees patients with all general endocrine disorders at the Salt Lake VA Medical Center Endocrine Clinic.
Clinical Locations
Veterans Administration Medical Center
801-582-1565
Board Certification and Academic Information
| Academic Departments | Internal Medicine
-
Associate Professor Biochemistry - Adjunct Associate Professor Nutrition and Integrative Physiology - Adjunct Associate Professor |
| Academic Divisions | Endocrinology and Metabolism |
| Board Certification | American Board of Internal Medicine (Sub: Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism) |
Dr. Schlegel is a board certified specialist in Adult Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. Dr. Schlegel sees patients with lipid disorders at the Utah Diabetes and Endocrinology Center on a referral basis. He sees patients with all general endocrine disorders at the Salt Lake VA Medical Center Endocrine Clinic.
Academic Locations
George and Dolores Eccles Institute of Human Genetics
801-585-0730
Research Statement
For the first decade of its operation, my laboratory took a multi-pronged approach to identifying and characterizing novel genes involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. We now focus on the most promising leads from this search—fasting processes that contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus—in the hopes of developing better diagnostic and therapeutic modalities to treat this pandemic, multi-organ illness. The central area of study is how the transcriptional repressor FOXN3, whose gene locus is associated with fasting blood glucose in population genetic studies, acts to regulate metabolism. FOXN3 is silenced in a wide array of cancers via uniqee mechanisms (e.g., intron polyadenylation, targeted pre-mRNA decay), and I am establishing several mouse cancer models where FOXN3 is absent. A second major area is the study of the ketone body transporter SLC16A6, whose encoding gene is amplified in several cancers. This work spans human physiology, genetically engineered mice and zebrafish, and cell-based approaches. Other areas of interest over my career included intestinal lipid transport and development of novel insulins based on cone snail venom insulin. I am also interested in monogenetic diabetes and dyslipidemia syndromes, areas that interface directly with areas of interest in clinical effort.
Board Certification and Academic Information
| Academic Departments | Internal Medicine
-
Associate Professor Biochemistry - Adjunct Associate Professor Nutrition and Integrative Physiology - Adjunct Associate Professor |
| Academic Divisions | Endocrinology and Metabolism |
| Board Certification | American Board of Internal Medicine (Sub: Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism) |
Research Interests
- Adipose Tissue
- Biochemistry
- Diabetes Mellitus
- Endocrinology
- Hormones
- Lipids
- Molecular Genetics
- Obesity
- Kinase
- Zebrafish
- Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
- Monocarboxylate Transporter
- Ketone Bodies
Education History
| Fellowship | University of California, San Francisco Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Fellow |
| Residency | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Internal Medicine Resident |
| Internship | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Internal Medicine Intern |
| Doctoral Training | Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program, Department of Molecular Pharmacology Ph.D. |
| Professional Medical | Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medicine M.D. |
| Graduate Training | Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program, Department of Molecular Pharmacology M.S. |
| Undergraduate | Hofstra University Major: Biochemistry, Minor: Mathematics B.S. |
Selected Publications - Journal Articles
Journal Article
- Wang M-Y, Dean ED, Quittner-Strom E, Zhu Y, Chowdhury KH, Zhang Z, Zhao S, Li N, Ye R, Lee Y, Zhang Y, Chen S, Yu X, Leonard DC, Poffenberger G, Von Dylen A, McCorkle SK, Schlegel A, Sloop KW, Efanov AM, Gimeno RE, Scherer PE, Powers AC, Unger RH, Holland WL (2021). Glucagon blockade restores functional β-cell mass in type 1 diabetic mice and enhances function of human islets. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 118(9), e2022142118.
- Karanth S, Chaurasia B, Bowman FM, Tippets TS, Holland WL, Summers SA, Schlegel A (2019). FOXN3 controls liver glucose mentalism by regulating gluconeogenic substrate selection. Physiol Rep, 7(18), e14238.
- Erickson ML, Karanth S, Ravussin E, Schlegel A (2019). FOXN3 hyperglycemic risk allele and insulin sensitivity in humans. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care, 7(1), e000688.
- Karanth S, Adams JD, Serrano MLA, Quittner-Strom E, Simcox J, Villanueva CJ, Ozcan L, Holland WL, Yost HJ, Vella A, Schlegel A (2018). A hepatocyte FOXN3—α cell glucagon alpha-axis regulates fasting glucose. Cell Rep, 24(2), 312-319.
- Hugo SE, Schlegel A (2017). A genetic model to study increased hexosamine biosynthetic flux. Endocrinology, 158(8), 2420-2426.
- Benitez-Santana T, Hugo SE, Schlegel A (2017). Role of intestinal LXRα in regulating post-prandial lipid excursion and diet-induced hypercholesterolemia and hepatic lipid accumulation. Front Physiol, 8, 280.
- Hugo SE, Schlegel A (2017). A genetic screen for zebrafish mutants with hepatic steatosis identifies a locus required for larval growth. J Anat, 230(3), 407-413.
- Karanth S, Zinkhan EK, Hill JT, Yost HJ, Schlegel A (2016). FOXN3 regulates hepatic glucose utilization. Cell Rep, 15(12), 2745-2755.
- Cruz-Garcia L, Schlegel A (2014). Lxr-driven enterocyte lipid droplet formation delays transport of ingested lipids. J Lipid Res, 55(9), 1944-1958.
- Karanth S, Tran VM, Kuberan B, Schlegel A (2013). Polyunsaturated fatty acyl-Coenzyme As are inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis in zebrafish and mice. Dis Model Mech, 6(6), 1365-1377.
- Hugo SE, Cruz-Garcia L, Karanth S, Anderson RM, Stainier DYR, Schlegel A (2012). A monocarboxylate transporter required for hepatocyte secretion of ketone bodies during fasting. Genes Dev, 26(3), 282-293.
Review
- Schlegel A (2016). Zebrafish models for dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis research. [Review]. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne), 7, 159.
- Schlegel A, Gut P (2015). Metabolic Insights from Zebrafish Genetics, Physiology, and Chemical Biology. [Review]. Cell Mol Life Sci, 72(12), 2249-2260.
- Schlegel, A (2012). Studying nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with zebrafish-- a confluence of optics, genetics, and physiology. [Review]. Cell Mol Life Sci, 69(23), 3965-3961.
Case Report
- Schlegel A (2021). Identifying glucocorticoid insufficiency in silent corticotroph adenoma with elevated adrenocorticotropic hormone . Lab Med, lmab053, https://doi.org/10.1093/labmed/lmab053.
- Rios M, Wahl MP, Simmons DL, Schlegel A (2020). Skull base lymphoma with panhypopituitarism. Lancet Oncol, 21(8), 55.
Patent
- Safavi-Hemami H, Olivera BM, Gajewiak J, Karanth S, Schlegel A, Bandyopadhyay P, Yandell M, Robinson S (2016). Insulin analogs having shortened b chain peptides and associated methods. WO 2016172269 A3. U.S. Patent No. WO 2016172269 A3. Washington, D.C.:U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.