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
Utah Diabetes Center
801-581-7761
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 (Internal Medicine) American Board of Internal Medicine (Sub: Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism) |
Dr. Schlegel was a trainee in the Medical Scientist Training Program of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. He was an intern and resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA, and was a Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was a clinical fellow in the Diabetes, Endocrine, and Metabolism Training Program at the University of California San Francisco, where he was subsequently a post-doctoral associate in the laboratory of Professor Didier Y.R. Stainier, Ph.D., in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. It was there that he established a zebrafish molecular genetic system for studying lipid metabolism.
In 2010, Dr. Schlegel was recruited to the University of Utah as an investigator in the Molecular Medicine Program and as an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry. He was promoted to Associate Professor with award of tenure in 2016. He hosts graduate students in his lab through the Molecular Biology and Biological Chemistry Graduate programs. His laboratory uses model organisms (zebrafish and mice) to identify and characterize new genes that participate in lipid and glucose metabolism. The long-term goal of this work is to identify novel therapeutic targets for treating obesity, type 2 diabetes, and lipid disorders.
Academic Locations
George and Dolores Eccles Institute of Human Genetics
801-585-0730
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 (Internal Medicine) American Board of Internal Medicine (Sub: Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism) |
Research Interests
Dr. Schlegel's laboratory takes a multi-pronged approach to identifying and characterizing novel genes involved in lipid and glucose metabolism.
In one main area of investigation, unbiased, forward genetic screens in zebrafish are used to isolate mutants with lipid phenotypes of interested (e.g., inappropriate accumulation of lipids in the liver, altered adipose lipid mass). The group then clones and characterizes the affected genes.
In a seconda area of investigation, modern genetic methods are used to delete or selectively express genes of therapeutic interest, with a particular emphasis on the control of intestinal lipid handling as a platform for treating dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis, and on the liver's control of fasting glucose metabolism.
Methods used include sophisticated microscopy (confocal and transmission electron), biochemical techniques, and, where appropriate, pilot pharmacological studies. In vitro enzymology, cell culture (including primary culture of human hepatocytes), and rodent (mice and rats) physiology approaches complement work in zebrafish.
- 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. |
| Undergraduate | Hofstra University Biochemistry B.S. |
Publications - Journal Articles
Journal Article
- 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.
- Safavi-Hemami H, Gajewiak J, Karanth S, Robinson SD, Ueberheide B, Douglass A, Schlegel A, Imperial J, Watkins M, Bandyopadhyay PK, Yandell M, Li Q, Purcell AW, Norton RS, Ellgaard L, Olivera BM (2015). A specialized insulin is used for chemical warfare by fish-hunting cone snails. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112(6), 1743-1748.
- 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]. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 7, 159.
- Schlegel A, Gut P (2015). Metabolic Insights from Zebrafish Genetics, Physiology, and Chemical Biology. [Review]. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 72(12), 2249-2260.
- Schlegel, A (2012). Studying nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with zebrafish-- a confluence of optics, genetics, and physiology. [Review]. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 69(23), 3965-3961.
Global Impact
Selected Provider Publications
Journal Article
Safavi-Hemami H, Gajewiak J, Karanth S, Robinson SD, Ueberheide B, Douglass A, Schlegel A, Imperial J, Watkins M, Bandyopadhyay PK, Yandell M, Li Q, Purcell AW, Norton RS, Ellgaard L, Olivera BM (2015). A specialized insulin is used for chemical warfare by fish-hunting cone snails. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112(6), 1743-1748.
Global Impact: Australia.