Peter Light, PhD

Peter Light, PhD

Professor at University of Alberta

CONTRIBUTIONS

1. Fat Tissue Has Receptors for Sunlight, and They Affect Fat Metabolism

BIO

Dr. Light is a pharmacologist and a leader in the field of cellular electrical activity. He is chief investigator at the Light Lab at the University of Alberta and is Director of the University of Alberta’s Diabetes Institute. His lab researches ion transport processes controlling cellular excitability, utilizing a combination of electrophysiological, live-cell imaging, biochemical and molecular techniques to study the biophysics, physiology, and pharmacology of ion channels and exchangers at the molecular, cellular, organ, and whole organism levels.

Currently, his lab is studying the following:

• The ionic and metabolic events that lead to cellular dysfunction in the heart and endocrine pancreas.
• The physiology and pathophysiology of human pancreatic islets with respect to incretin biology.
• The design and development of small molecules for the treatment of heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and type 2 diabetes.
• Ion transport pharmacology
• ATP-sensitive potassium channel function and molecular pharmacology.
• Anti-diabetic drug pharmacology and cardiovascular safety.
• Molecular optogenetic approaches for the engineering of subcutaneous adipocytes.
• Endogenous light-sensitive signaling pathways in subcutaneous adipocytes.