U-M Brehm Investigators
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| "Being a U-M Brehm Investigator means that I will be able to interact with other diabetes researchers on a daily basis, to synergize with them and to develop new research initiatives and approaches for the treatment of diabetes. This interdisciplinary approach in the Brehm Center will also provide an excellent research environment and training experience for trainees in my lab who want to pursue a career in diabetes research." |
Peter Dempsey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases
Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
U-M Brehm Investigator
Dr. Peter Dempsey came to the University of Michigan in 2006 after holding faculty appointments at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee; Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI) in Seattle, Washington; and the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dr. Dempsey earned his Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 1988 and completed his post-doctoral work at Sloan Kettering Institute in New York as well as at Vanderbilt University.
Having been trained in gastrointestinal physiology and tumor biology, Dr. Dempsey wasn't introduced to pancreas and beta cell research until he was at PNRI. While studying signaling pathways involved in intestinal epithelial cell maintenance and survival, his colleague and former assistant director of PNRI, Chris Rhodes, suggested that he study beta cells. This led to a new focus for Dr. Dempsey's research.
The primary interest of Dr. Dempsey’s lab is to determine the molecular mechanisms by which disintegrin-metalloproteases (ADAMs) modify extracellular signals that regulate cell differentiation and function during normal physiological processes and how these signals maybe perturbed in disease states. Dr. Dempsey’s current work utilizes conditional transgenic mouse models to study the role of ADAM mediated signaling events in pancreatic beta cell function, survival, and regeneration and in experimental models of pancreatic beta cell stress. Other research interests include autocrine ErbB receptor signaling, Notch signaling, regulated intra-membrane processing, mucosal injury and repair, and polarized epithelial trafficking.
Besides being a longtime member of the American Diabetes Association, Dr. Dempsey is a member of the American Society of Cell Biology and the American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.
