Dr. Brian Cockburn

Senior Lecturer (Biochemistry)

Deputy Dean, Enterprise Development and Outreach

staff listing

Contact Information

Department of Life Sciences
The University of The West Indies
St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Location:
Rm 219, 1st Floor, Natural Sciences Building, Old Wing

Tel: 1(868) 645-3232/9 Ext.3541
Fax: 1(868) 663-5241
Send an Email

Education:

• Ph.D. University of The West Indies (1994)
• BSc. (Hons) Chemistry/Biochemistry (1987)

Post Doctoral Fellowships/ Training:

• The Rockefeller University, New York - Short Course in Analysis of Human Genetic Linkage - 1998
• The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 - 38th Annual Short Course in Medical and Experimental Genetics - 1997
• Research fellow - Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Chicago - 1994-1997
• Laboratory Assistant (Research) - F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Basel, Switzerland - 1993-1994

Research Interests:

• Metabolic diseases: obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus
• Molecular genetics of diabetes
• Nutritional status of end-stage renal disease patients receiving dialysis treatment
• Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and antioxidant status
• Nutrient content and genetic diversity of sweet potato varieties maintained in Trinidad

Current Graduate Students:

• Mr Nigel Austin (Ph.D.)
• Ms Karen Pierre (Ph.D.)
• Ms Fariyal Hosein (M.Phil)

Selected Bibliography:     

• Cockburn BN, Bermano G, Boodram LL, Teelucksingh S, Tsuchiya T, Mahabir D, Allan AB, Stein R, Docherty K, Bell GI.(2004). Insulin promoter factor-1 mutations and diabetes in Trinidad: identification of a novel diabetes-associated mutation (E224K) in an Indo-Trinidadian family.  J Clin Endocrinol Metab 89(2):971-8.
• Gragnoli C, Cockburn BN, Chiaramonte F, Gorini A, Marietti G, Marozzi G, Signorini AM.(2001).  Early-onset Type II diabetes mellitus in Italian families due to mutations in the genes encoding hepatic nuclear factor 1 alpha and glucokinase.  Diabetologia 44(10):1326-9.
• Bell, G.I., Cockburn, B.N., Cox, N.J., Chen Daniel, J., del Bosque Plata, L., Fajans, S.S., et al. (1999). Maturity-onset diabetes of the young - a model for genetic studies of diabetes mellitus In Common Disease: Genetic and Pathogenetic Aspects of Multifactorial Diseases, Imura, H., Kasuga, M. and Nakao, K., editors.  Elsevier Science B.V.
• Sreenan S, Keck S, Fuller T, Cockburn B, Burant CF.   Effects of troglitazone on substrate storage and utilization in insulin-resistant rats.  Am J Physiol 1999 Jun;276(6 Pt 1):E1119-29.
• Lindner, T.H., Cockburn, B.N., and Bell, G.I.  Molecular genetics of MODY in Germany.  Diabetologia 42: 121-123, 1999.
• Ng MC, Cockburn BN, Lindner TH, Yeung VT, Chow CC, So WY, Li JK, Lo YM, Lee ZS, Cockram CS, Critchley JA, Bell GI, Chan JC (1999). Molecular genetics of diabetes mellitus in Chinese subjects: identification of mutations in glucokinase and hepatocyte nuclear factor-1alpha genes in patients with early-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus/MODY. Diabetes Medicine 16(11): 956-63.
• Hathout EH, Cockburn BN, Mace JW, Sharkey J, Chen-Daniel J, Bell GI. A case of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 alpha diabetes/MODY3 masquerading as type 1 diabetes in a Mexican-American adolescent and responsive to a low dose of sulfonylurea. Diabetes Care 1999 May;22(5):867-8.
• Zhou YP, Cockburn BN, Pugh W, Polonsky KS. Basal insulin hypersecretion in insulin-resistant Zucker diabetic and Zucker fatty rats: role of enhanced fuel metabolism. Metabolism 1999 Jul;48(7):857-64
• Sreenan, S.K., Cockburn, B.N., Baldwin, A.C., Ostrega, D.M., Levisetti, M., Bell, G.I., Stewart, T.A., Roe M.W., Polonsky, K.S.  Adaptation to hyperglycemia enhances insulin secretion in glucokinase mutant mice.  Diabetes 47: 1881-1888, 1998.
• Sovik O, Njolstad P, Folling I, Sagen J, Cockburn B.N., and Bell G.I.  Hyperexcitability to sulphonylurea in MODY3.  Diabetologia 41:607-608, 1998.
• Njolstad, P.R., Cockburn, B.N., Bell, G.I., and Sovik, O.  A missense mutation, Val62Ala,  in the glucokinase gene in a Norwegian family with maturity-onset diabetes of the young.  Acta Paediatrica 87: 853-856, 1998.
• Deyrup AT, Krishnan S, Cockburn B.N., and Schwartz NB.  Deletion and site-directed mutagenesis of the ATP-binding motif (P-loop) in the bifunctional murine ATP sulfurylase/APS kinase enzyme.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 273: 9450-9456, 1998.
• Horikawa, Y., Iwasaki, N., Hara, M., Furuta, H., Hinokio, Y., Cockburn, B.N., Lindner, T., Yamagata, K., Ogata, M., Tomonaga, O., Kuroki, H., Kasahara, T., Iwamoto, Y., and Bell G.I.  Mutation in hepatocyte nuclear factor-1$ associated with maturity-onset diabetes of the young.  Nature Genetics 17: 384-385, 1997.
• Cockburn, B.N., Ostrega, D.M., Sturis, J., Kubstrup, C., Polonsky, K.S. and Bell, G.I.  Changes in pancreatic islet glucokinase and hexokinase activities with increasing age, obesity and the onset of diabetes.  Diabetes 46:1434-1439, 1997.
• Cockburn, B.N. and Coore, H.G. Starvation reduces pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate phosphatase activity in rat kidney.  Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry  149/150: 131-136, 1995.

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