Jessica Yue
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Toronto
Laboratory and Office: 7-21 Medical Sciences Building
Email address: jessica.yue@ualberta.ca
Lab Telephone: 780.492.5893
Office Telephone: 780.248.5804
Awards
Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Brain Regulation of Metabolism
Research Interests / Academic Activities
The brain plays an essential role in orchestrating the body’s homeostatic mechanisms. This is achieved by a continuous monitoring of nutritional and hormonal cues, which can collectively serve as an indicator of the body’s metabolic status and as a means of feedback. However, brain pathways that couple the body’s energy needs with nutrient intake and endogenous nutrient output are vulnerable to dysregulation in metabolic disorders such as obesity. As a result, excessive caloric intake further contributes to the obese state, and increased production of glucose and lipids by the liver leads to an increased risk for insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are highly visible health concerns that affect growing numbers of Canadians as well as populations in developed and developing countries world-wide.
The research of the Yue laboratory focuses on delineating brain mechanisms which coordinate whole-body metabolism. Research focuses on characterizing pathways in the brain and the neurocircuitry that drive the regulation of hepatic fuel production, namely glucose and lipids, of feeding behaviour, and of body weight gain. The Yue laboratory encompasses methods in physiology, pharmacology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. In vivo experimental techniques include glucose clamp experiments with tracer dilution methodology to quantify whole-body glucose turnover, hepatic lipoprotein secretion experiments to study lipid metabolism, and energy monitoring systems to investigate feeding and locomotor behaviours in response to brain treatment interventions. The aim is to advance the current knowledge of the etiology and pathogenesis of obesity and diabetes. Consequently, prospective novel therapeutic signalling molecules in the brain could be identified to restore glucose, lipid, and energy homeostasis in individuals characterized by the metabolic syndrome.
Courses currently taught in the Department of Physiology:
PHYSL 210 C1 (instructor)
PHYSL 210 C3 (instructor)
PHYSL 214 (instructor)
PHYSL 409/509 (instructor)
PHYSL 455/555 (instructor)
PHYSL 467 (supervisor)
PHYSL 468/469 (supervisor)
Select Publications
JTY Yue, FA Duca, TKT Lam. Silencing gut CCK cells alters gut reaction for sugar. Nature Neuroscience, 25: 136-138, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-021-00998-z
RJW Li, B Batchuluun, S-Y Zhang, MA Abraham, B Wang, Y-M Lim, JTY Yue, TKT Lam. Nutrient infusion in the dorsal vagal complex controls hepatic lipid and glucose metabolism in rats. iScience, 24: 102366, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102366
JTY Yue & TKT Lam. Antiobesogenic effects of central GIPR antagonism. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 129 (9): 3532-3535, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI130755
Emilie Beaulieu-Bayne, Miguel Cardoso, Hyejun Kim, Shuling Yang, JTY Yue. Glucoregulatory effects of hypothalamic glucocorticoid action in vivo. Diabetes, 68 suppl1: 104-OR, 2019. doi.org/10.2337/db19-104-OR
JTY Yue*, MA Abraham*, PV Bauer, MP LaPierre, P Wang, FA Duca, BM Filippi, O Chan, TKT Lam. Inhibition of glycine transporter 1 in the dorsal vagal complex improves metabolic homeostasis in diabetic and obese rats. Nature Communications, 7: 13501, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13501
JTY Yue, MA Abraham, MP LaPierre, PI Mighiu, PE Light, BM Filippi, TKT Lam. A fatty-acid dependent hypothalamic-DVC neurocircuitry that regulates hepatic secretion of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Nature Communications, 6: 5970, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6970
FA Duca & JTY Yue. Fatty acid sensing in the gut and hypothalamus: In vivo and in vitro perspectives. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 397: 23-33, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2014.09.022
JTY Yue, MC Riddell, E Burdett, DH Coy, S Efendic, M Vranic. Amelioration of hypoglycemia via somatostatin receptor type 2 antagonism in recurrently hypoglycemic diabetic rats. Diabetes, 62: 2215-2222, 2013. https://doi.org/10.2337/db12-1523
PI Mighiu*, JTY Yue*, BM Filippi, MA Abraham, M Chari, CKL Lam, NR Christian, CS Yang, MJ Charron, TKT Lam. Hypothalamic glucagon signaling inhibits glucose production. Nature Medicine, 19: 766-772, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3115
JTY Yue, PI Mighiu, M Naples, K Adeli, TKT Lam. Glycine normalizes hepatic triglyceride-rich VLDL secretion by triggering the CNS in high-fat fed rats. Circulation Research, 110: 1345-1354, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.112.268276
JTY Yue & TKT Lam. Lipid sensing and insulin resistance in the brain. Cell Metabolism, 15: 646-655, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2012.01.013
JTY Yue, E Burdett, DH Coy, A Giacca, S Efendic, M Vranic. Somatostatin receptor type 2 antagonism improves glucagon and corticosterone counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes, 61: 197-207, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2337/db11-0690
Laboratory Members
Lab manager:
Bryan Lum
Graduate students:
Mantash Grewal
Boyan Vasilev
Undergraduate research students:
Kobe Belyea
D’arci Sutton
Visiting trainees:
Dr. Sara Lind Jepsen (PDF; University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Miriam Bernecker (PhD student, Helmholtz Diabetes Centre, Germany)