Doctoral Training and Teaching Faculty

Ira J. Goldberg, M.D., Professor of Medicine
B.S. 1971, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.D. 1975, Harvard University 

Dr. Goldberg's laboratory studies the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL) that is responsible for the uptake of lipids into peripheral tissue.  LPL is synthesized in adipocytes and myocytes and is then transported across the endothelial cell layer to function on the lumenal surface of these cells. Dr. Goldberg and colleagues have defined the binding sites for LPL on the endothelial cells as specific glycosaminoglycans and have assessed how the enzyme is transferred to the endothelial cell surface. Using a series of genetically altered mice, the roles of LPL in plasma lipoprotein regulation and in acquisition of lipid by tissues, especially the heart, is being investigated.  Recent work is delineating the role of LPL in the recently recognized pathophysiology of cardiac lipotoxicity.  Trainees in the Goldberg lab have the opportunity to learn and apply basic approaches of cell biology, proteoglycan biochemistry, enzymology and in transgenic mouse models.

Yagyu H. Chen G. Yokoyama M. Hirata K. Augustus A. Kako Y. Seo T. Hu Y. Lutz EP. Merkel M. Bensadoun A. Homma S. Goldberg IJ. Lipoprotein lipase (LpL) on the surface of cardiomyocytes increases lipid uptake and produces a cardiomyopathy. Journal of Clinical Investigation 111:419-26, 2003. 

Yokoyama M. Yagyu H. Hu Y. Seo T. Hirata K. Homma S. Goldberg IJ. Apolipoprotein B production reduces lipotoxic cardiomyopathy: studies in heart-specific lipoprotein lipase transgenic mouse.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 279:4204-11, 2004.

Lutz EP. Kako Y. Yagyu H. Heeren J. Marks S. Wright T. Melford K. Ben-Zeev O. Radner H. Merkel M. Bensadoun A. Wong H. Goldberg IJ. Mice expressing only covalent dimeric heparin binding-deficient lipoprotein lipase: muscles inefficiently secrete dimeric enzyme. Journal of Biological Chemistry 279:238-44, 2004.

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