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Faculty Detail    
Name JOSEPH L MESSINA
  
Campus Address VH G019 Zip 0019
Phone  (205) 934-4921
E-mail  messinaj@uab.edu
Other websites
     

Education
Undergraduate  Dartmouth College    1977  B.A. Biology/Chemistry/Anthropology/Physiological Psychology 
Graduate  University of Michigan School of Medicine, Department of Physiology    1982  Ph.D. 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Center  Comprehensive Cardiovascular Ctr  Comprehensive Cardiovascular Ctr Professor
Center  Comprehensive Diabetes Center  Comprehensive Diabetes Center Professor
Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Professor
Center  GL Ctr for Craniofacial, Oral, & Dental Disorders  GL Ctr for Craniofacial, Oral, & Dental Disorders Professor
Center  Nutrition Sciences   Nutrition Obesity Res Ctr (NORC) Professor
Center  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Ctr for Exercise Medicine Professor
Primary  Pathology   Molecular & Cellular Pathology Professor
Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Program 
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology 
Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics 
Hughes Med-Grad Fellowship Program 
Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
Integrative Genetics Graduate Program 
Medical Scientist Training Program 
Molecular and Cellular Pathology Program 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Messina received his BA degree from Dartmouth College and his Ph.D. in Endocrine Physiology from the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology. His academic career includes President of the Graduate Faculty Organization (1987-1989) and Director of the Cell and Molecular Biology Program, at the SUNY Health Science Center (1992-1994). At UAB, Directorship of the Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Pathology and the Department of Genomics and Pathobiology (2001-2003), Directorship of the Pathology Research and Education Program (PREP, 1999-2003), a member of the UAB Graduate Council and of the UAB Graduate Dean's New Program Committee. He is currently a Scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center, the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UAB Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, the Exercise Medicine Research Center, the UAB Cardiovascular Disease Research Center, and the UAB Center for Aging Research.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Diabetes Association  Member   
The Endocrine Society  Member   
The Shock Society  Executive Council; Member   
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Insulin and Growth Hormone (GH) Action, Insulin and GH Resistance Following Injury/Trauma, Infection and Polytrauma
Description
Disease states, such as diabetes, cancer and stresses such as infection, sepsis and surgical trauma are characterized by changes in cellular metabolism and function. These changes are often preceded by the development of resistance to insulin and/or growth hormone (GH) and by alterations in the expression of a number of genes important for regulation of key steps in cellular metabolism. Our main interests are the underlying mechanisms by which hormones and growth factors act and interact to regulate cellular metabolism and gene expression. Recent studies indicate that changes in the responsiveness to insulin and growth hormone may be important in aiding survival of patients following surgery, trauma, burns and infection. We are exploring the development of insulin and GH resistance and the interaction between insulin, GH, and the proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1 beta) in cultured cells and in the liver, heart, muscle and fat of animal models of infection, injury, hemorrhage, diabetes and obesity. These studies are important if we are to understand the role of these hormones in normal physiology and growth, in diseases such as diabetes, in hormone-dependent cancers, and in the recovery following surgery, trauma, burns and infection

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Akscyn, R.M., Franklin, J.L., Gavrikova, T.A., and Messina, J.L. Polytrauma-Induced Hepatic Stress Response and the Development of Liver Insulin Resistance. Biochem. Biophys. Acta. -Molecular Basis of Disease 2017, 1863, 2672-2679.   
Franklin, J.L., Bennett, W.L., and Messina, J.L. Insulin attenuates TNFα-induced hemopexin mRNA: An anti-inflammatory action of insulin in rat H4IIE hepatoma cells. Biochem. Biophys. Reports. 2017, 9, 211-216.    
Li, L., Thompson, L.H., Kim, H.T., Zhao, L., Kokorina, N., and Messina, J.L. Differential molecular mechanisms for hepatic and skeletal muscle acute insulin resistance following trauma and hemorrhage. (2009) Endocrinology, 150: 24-32.   18801909 
Li, L. and Messina, J.L. Acute insulin resistance following injury. (2009) Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, 20: 429-435.  19800814 
Jiang, S., Gavrikova, T.A., Pereboev, A., and Messina, J.L. Adenovirus infection results in alterations of insulin signaling and glucose homeostasis. (2010) Am. J. Physiol., 298: E1295-E1304.   20388825 
Zhai, L., Ballinger, S.W., and Messina, J.L. Role of reactive oxygen species in injury-induced hepatic insulin resistance. (2011) Molecular Endocrinology, 25(3): 492-502.  21239612 
Jiang, S. and Messina, J.L. Role of inhibitory κB kinase and c-Jun N-terminal kinase in hepatic insulin resistance in critical illness diabetes. (2011) Am. J. Physiol., 301: G454-G463.   21680774 
Jiang, S. and Messina, J.L. Role of tissue macrophages in the development of critical illness diabetes. (2012) Shock, 37: 70-76.   21841539 
Williams, V.L., Martin, R.E., Franklin, J.L., Hardy, R. W., and Messina, J.L. Injury-induced insulin resistance in adipose tissue. (2012) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 421: 442-448.  22521887 
Corrick, R.M., Li, L., Frank, S. J., and Messina, J.L. Hepatic growth hormone resistance after acute injury. (2013) Endocrinology, 154: 1577-1588.  23417424 
Li, L. Li, X., Zhou, W., and Messina, J.L. Acute psychological stress results in the rapid development of insulin resistance. (2013) Journal of Endocrinology, 217: 175-184.   23444388 
Jiang, S., Gavrikova, T.A. and Messina, J.L. Regulation of hepatic insulin receptor activity following injury. Role of tissue macrophages in the development of critical illness diabetes. (2014) Am. J. Physiol., 306: G886-G892.  24699331 
Allison, D.B., Antoine, L.H., Ballinger, S.W., Bamman, M.M., Biga, P., Darley-Usmar, V.M., Fisher, G., Gohlke, J.M., Halade, G.V., Hartman, J.L., Hunter, G.R., Messina, J.L., Nagy, T.R., Plaisance, E.P., Roth, K.A., Sandel, M.W., Schwartz, T.S., Smith, D.L., Sweatt, J.D., Tollefsbol, T.O., Watts, S.A., Yang, Y., Zhang, J., Austad, S.N. and Powell, M.L. Aging and Energetics’ ‘Top 40’ Future Research Opportunities 2010-2013. (2014) F1000 Research 3:219.   25324965 
Akscyn, R.M., Franklin, J.L., Gavrikova, T.A., and Messina, J.L. Skeletal muscle atrogene expression and insulin resistance in a rat model of polytrauma. (2016) Physiological Reports, 4: e12659.  26818585 
Akscyn, R.M., Franklin, J.L., Gavrikova, T.A., Schwacha, M.G and Messina, J.L. A rat model of concurrent combined injuries (polytrauma). (2015) Int. J. Clin. Exp. Med., 8, 20097-20110.  26884923 
Franklin, J.L., Venable, D.Y., Amsler, M.O., and Messina, J.L. Prenylation differentially inhibits insulin-dependent immediate early gene mRNA expression. (2016) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 474, 594-598.   27086854 
 

Keywords
Insulin Resistance, Growth Hormone Resistance, Signal Transduction, Gene Expression, Stress, Injury, Trauma, Infection, Polytrauma