Dr. Jose Galgani is a Chilean Nutritionist completing his post-doctoral training at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. In June 2007, he joined Dr. Eric Ravussin’s Human Physiology lab where he is currently pursuing his interests in how metabolic abnormalities contribute to Type 2 Diabetes.
While being a recipient of an INF/EMF Fellowship, Dr. Galgani has found an outstanding environment at Pennington Biomedical where he is studying how metabolic activity affects insulin’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels. The impairment of insulin action is known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can be observed early in life, and it may lead to the onset of Type 2 Diabetes decades later. Dr. Galgani’s primary research efforts are focused on answering why this phenomenon occurs and the metabolic factors that contribute to this.
In addition to that, Dr. Galgani is interested in why certain individuals accumulate a higher level of fat in their muscle tissue, and how this increased fat accumulation relates to mitochondrial oxidative capacity. He was recently awarded a grant from The Obesity Society to investigate the influence of muscle mitochondrial capacity on accumulated fat droplets. Mitochondria are tiny “furnaces” that oxidize fat to release energy. Dr. Galgani proposes that those persons, who have a fewer number of mitochondria, could have increased muscle fat accumulation. Alternatively, he has proposed that muscle tissue from insulin-resistant individuals expend less energy, which could, in turn, be the cause for lower fat oxidation as well as higher muscle fat accumulation.
His current studies are focused on comparing the metabolic rate in muscle cells from diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. These results are eagerly expected and may pioneer our view about how insulin resistance is originated.
This year, Dr. Galgani will complete his tenure at Pennington Biomedical. After returning to Chile, he will assume a research position at the University of Chile where he is looking forward to contributing to the development of his country.
For more information on Dr. Galgani's research, please visit his profile page at Pennington Biomedical.
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