Top researcher for diabetes
Achievements

Top researcher for diabetes

Sofianos Andrikopoulos is the former President of the Australian Diabetes Society and head of the Islet Biology Research Group at the University of Melbourne Department of Medicine (Austin Health). He investigates the genetic susceptibility of islet dysfunction using animal models of diabetes. This research has lead to the hypothesis that increased insulin secretory demand may be a mechanism that contributes to diabetes. This has clinical implications since a common class of drug used to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes causes increased insulin secretion and in fact may be detrimental in the long term.

Dr Andrikopoulos completed his PhD studies at the University of Melbourne Department of Medicine under the supervision of Professor Joseph Proietto investigating the mechanism of hepatic glucose overproduction in Type 2 diabetes.  This work demonstrated that hepatic glucose overproduction was secondary to high fat diets and obesity and showed for the first time that the enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) was stimulated by fat and associated with increased glucose production.

Dr Andrikopoulos then completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington Seattle USA under the mentorship of Professor Steven Kahn investigating the cause of pancreatic islet dysfunction and in particular the role of islet amyloid in Type 2 diabetes.

Upon his return to Australia, Dr Andrikopoulos established the Islet Biology Research Group at the University of Melbourne Department of Medicine (Austin Health) to investigate the genetic susceptibility of islet dysfunction using animal models of diabetes.  This research has lead to the hypothesis that increased insulin secretory demand may be a mechanism that contributes to diabetes.  This has clinical implications since a common class of drug used to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes causes increased insulin secretion and in fact may be detrimental in the long term.

Sofianos has had grant support from the NH&MRC since 1998, is on the editorial board of Journal of Endocrinology, on the JDRF/Australia Islet Transplantation Program Advisory Committee, has served on NH&MRC Grant Review Panels and regularly reviews manuscripts for leading journals in the field including Diabetes and Diabetologia. In 2008 he was awarded the NHMRC Award for Excellence in health and medical research.

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