Takashi Kadowaki MD, PhD

Takashi Kadowaki is currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, at the University of Tokyo. His major research interests include molecular basis of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes and molecular mechanisms of adiponectin action and adiponectin receptors. Using gene targeting strategy, his laboratory determined the physiological roles of key molecules in insulin secretion and insulin action such as β-cell glucokinase and NADH shuttle and insulin receptor substrate-1, P85α PI3 kinase and PPARγ, respectively. His laboratory discovered insulin sensitizing effect of adiponectin and identified and cloned receptors for adiponectin, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2.