Gill Center for Biomolecular Science

Email:

gszanda@i.edu

Department:

Psychological and Brain Sciences

Campus:

IU Bloomington

Gergö Szanda, M.D., Ph.D.

Education:

• Ph.D., Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, EU, 2011
• M.D., Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest, Hungary, EU, 2006

Research Interests:

During my Ph.D. training, I developed a special interest in mitochondrial calcium homeostasis, how it shapes insulin and steroid production, and how its dysregulation leads to cellular damage such as that seen in dominant optic atrophy. Then, during my postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH, I studied how an overactive endocannabinoid system drives tissue damage and leads to the loss of insulin producing β-cells and deterioration of glomerular function in diabetes. Lately, my research focused on the mechanisms by which cannabinoids obstruct the signaling of anorexigenic leptin and contribute to the development of weight gain and obesity.

 Representative Publications:

Full list of Gergö Szanda's Publications

• Wiederkehr A, Szanda G, Akhmedov D, Mataki C, Heizmann CW, Schoonjans K, Pozzan T, Spät A, Wollheim CB; Mitochondrial Matrix Calcium Is an Activating Signal for Hormone Secretion. Cell Metabolism 13: 601-611, 2011
• Jourdan T, Szanda G, Rosenberg AZ, Tam J, Earley BJ, Godlewski G, Cinar R, Liu Z, Liu J, Ju C, Pacher P, Kunos G; Overactive cannabinoid 1 receptor in podocytes drives type 2 diabetic nephropathy. PNAS 111: E5420-E5428, 2014
• Jourdan T*, Szanda G*, Cinar R, Godlewski G, Holovac DJ, Park JK, Nicoloro S, Shen Y, Liu J, Rosenberg AZ, Liu Z, Czech MP, Kunos G; Developmental Role of Macrophage Cannabinoid-1 Receptor Signaling in Type-2 Diabetes. Diabetes 66: 994-1007, 2017 (*first authors)
• Szanda G, Wisniewski É, Rajki A, Spät A; Mitochondrial cAMP exerts positive feedback on mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake via the recruitment of Epac. J.Cell Science 131: jcs215178, 2018
• Horváth V.B., Soltész-Katona E., Wisniewski É., Rajki A., Halász E., Enyedi B., Hunyady L., Tóth A.D., Szanda G; Optimization of the Heterologous Expression of the Cannabinoid Type-1 (CB1) Receptor Frontiers in Endocrinology 12: 740913, 2021
• Szanda G, Jourdan T, Wisniewski E, Cinar R, Godlewski G, Rajki A, Liu J, Chedester L, Szalai B, Toth AD, Soltesz-Katona E, Hunyady L, Inoue A, Horvath VB, Spät A, Tam J, Kunos G; Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) inhibits hypothalamic leptin signaling via β-arrestin1 in complex with TC-PTP and STAT3. iScience 26: 107207, 2023