Current and Future Fellows

Pediatric Endocrinology Fellows

Second year fellow Brigitte Frohnert received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, where she had a full academic scholarship.  She was a National Merit Scholarship finalist and a Rhodes Scholarship semi-finalist, she received the LC Plant Mathematics Award, and was class valedictorian of the Mathematics Department. Dr. Frohnert did her MD/PhD training at UM in the laboratory of Dr. David Bernlohr, Department Head of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics.  Her dissertation was entitled "Functional and Regulatory Studies of Fatty Acid Transport Protein 1". This work resulted in 5 publications and 3 abstracts, and receipt of the Rosica and Sifra Yussim Award for Outstanding Research in the Field of Diabetes Mellitus.  Now, following pediatric residency at UM including a year as Chief Resident, Dr. Frohnert is once again working with Dr. Bernlohr on a project entitled "Studies of Oxidative Stress in the Adipose Tissue of Obese Youth". Previous studies have shown obesity to be a state of inflammation, associated with signs of increased oxidative stress in adipose tissue, including modification of metabolically important proteins by reactive lipid species. These effects of oxidative stress have been implicated as a mechanistic link between obesity and insulin resistance.  Subjects from an ongoing study assessing cardiovascular risk factors and insulin resistance have been separated into four groups: lean insulin sensitive, lean insulin resistant, obese insulin sensitive and obese insulin resistant.  Adipose tissue from these four groups will be analyzed for expression of mRNA important in pathways associated with oxidative stress.  Further, the modification of specific intracellular proteins by reactive lipid species will be quantified, with the goal of elucidating factors important in obesity-associated insulin resistance.