Biography

Duyen Tran is a UTAS Pharmacy PhD candidate whose molecular investigations aim to target the causes of insulin resistance in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). In healthy individual, insulin - a hormone produced by the pancreas, allows the body to absorb glucose from the bloodstream and fuel our metabolic needs. In T2DM, the body becomes resistant to the normal effects of insulin and/or gradually loses the capacity to produce enough insulin in the pancreas leading to dangerous high blood sugar levels. Recent literature showed that a toxic class of fat metabolites, known as deoxysphingolopids, may increase the risk for T2DM. Duyen’s project aims to investigates whether the abnormal accumulation of these toxic fats in skeletal muscles would contribute to the elevation of glucose levels observed in T2DM patients. Her findings will offer a novel prospective biomarker to predict the incidence of insulin resistance in the current “diabesity” (diabetes + obesity) epidemic. 

---

Duyen identifies as culturally and linguistically diverse.