Reshma Ramracheya
University of Oxford, UK
Biography
Dr. Reshma Ramracheya investigate the regulation and failure of the insulin-secreting beta-cell and glucagon-secreting alpha-cell in normal health and diabetes respectively. As an islet physiologist, She intrigued by how pancreatic islet cells, despite being biochemically similar, are able to respond to nutrients and drugs differently. Type 2 diabetes is a global epidemic with over 300 million sufferers worldwide. It results from a combination of insufficient insulin secretion and over-secretion of glucagon but the role of glucagon as a counter-regulatory hormone in diabetes has been largely overlooked.Her group is investigating the effects of weight-loss surgery and the appetite-regulating hormone peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY) on pancreatic islet secretion and in human diabetes. In parallel, they are also studying the mechanism by which the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) inhibits glucagon secretion in human isolated islets.