printer friendly version Print Version Research

BJÖRN TYRBERG, PH.D.
Assistant Professor

Primary Appointment:
Metabolic Signaling & Disease

407.745.2063 (Phone)
407.745.2001 (Fax)
Mailing Address
btyrberg@burnham.org


RESEARCH FOCUS, BIOGRAPHY, PUBLICATIONS


Research Focus
The global incidence of diabetes is increasing in epidemic proportions, particularly obesity-related type 2 diabetes. Complications from diabetes are severe and at present no cure exists. Today, Type 2 diabetes is recognized as a ß-cell disease as much as a disease of insulin target organs, and it has become more and more evident that maintenance of a critical ß-cell mass plays a central role.

Dr. Tyrberg's research focuses on understanding how ß-cell mass homeostasis is regulated after birth, both under normal circumstances and during diabetes. His philosophy is that understanding ß-cell regeneration is of major importance to the future success in treating both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Previous work demonstrated that human ß-cells renew both through self-replication and through differentiation from progenitor cells, as well as addressed mechanisms of ß-cell death in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Current efforts aim to characterize the nature of adult pancreatic progenitor cells, with a particular focus on Notch-signaling. These efforts also aim to understand ß-cell mass homeostasis in 2 diabetes through genetic studies in mice.

Biography
Björn P. Tyrberg was born in Sweden. He received his Master of Science in Pharmacy in 1995 from Uppsala University in Sweden. He joined the laboratory of Drs. Claes Hellerström and Arne Andersson the same year and received his Doctorate in Medical Sciences in 1999, also from Uppsala University. He received postdoctoral training in the laboratories of Dr. Fred Levine at University of California San Diego and Drs. Barbara Ranscht and Evan Snyder at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Tyrberg was appointed to faculty at the Diabetes and Obesity Research Center in 2007.

Selected Publications
Tyrberg B, Garlatti M, Azizian K, Monosov E, Miles P, Levine F, Ranscht B. T-cadherin contributes to glucose metabolism and the regulation of second phase insulin secretion as a novel ß-cell granule-associated component. (submitted)

Ball AJ, Abrahamsson AE, Tyrberg B, Itkin-Ansari P, Levine F. (2007) Hes6 reverses nuclear reprogramming of insulin-producing cells following cell fusion. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 355:331-337

Hao E*, Tyrberg B*, Itkin-Ansari P, Lakey J, Geron I, Monosov E, Barcova M, Mercola M, Levine F. (2006) ß-cell differentiation from nonendocrine epithelial cells of the adult human pancreas. *Contributed equally. Nature Medicine 12:310-316

Qian D, Radde-Gallwitz K, Kelly M, Tyrberg B, Kim J, Gao W-Q, Chen P. (2006) The basic helix-loop-helix gene Hes6 delineates the sensory hair cell lineage in the inner ear. Dev Dynamics 235:1689-1700

Tyrberg B, Anachkov KA, Dib SA, Wang-Rodriguez J, Yoon K-H, Levine F. (2002) Islet Expression of the DNA Repair Enzyme 8-OxoG DNA Glycosylase (Ogg1) in Human Type 2 Diabetes. BMC Endocr Disord 2:2

Tyrberg B, Levine F. (2001) Current and future treatment strategies for type 2 diabetes - The ß-cell as a therapeutic target. Curr Opin Investig Drugs 11:1568-1574

Tyrberg B, Andersson A., Borg LAH. (2001) Species differences in susceptibility of transplanted and cultured pancreatic islets to the ß-cell toxin alloxan. Gen Comp Endocrinol 122:238-251

Tyrberg B, Ustinov J, Otonkoski T, Andersson A. (2001) Stimulated endocrine cell neogenesis in transplanted human pancreatic islets - Effects of the ob gene and compensatory growth of the implantation organ. Diabetes 50:301-307

Tyrberg B, Eizirik DL, Marklund SL, Olejnicka B, Madsen OD, Andersson A. (1999) Human islets in mixed islet grafts protect mouse pancreatic ß-cells from alloxan toxicity. Pharmacol Toxicol 85: 269-275

Flodström M, Tyrberg B, Eizirik DL, Sandler S. (1999) Reduced sensitivity of inducible nitric oxide synthase-deficient mice to multiple low dose streptozotocin-induced diabetes. Diabetes 48: 706-713

Tyrberg B, Eizirik DL, Hellerström C, Pipeleers DG, Andersson A. (1996) Human pancreatic ß-cell DNA-synthesis in islet grafts decreases with increasing organ donor age but increases in response to glucose stimulation in vitro. Endocrinology 137: 5694-5699

Delaney CA, Tyrberg B, Bouwens L, Vaghef H, Hellman B, Eizirik DL. (1996) Sensitivity of human pancreatic islets to peroxynitrite-induced cell dysfunction and death. FEBS Lett 394: 300-306

List of publications via PubMed