Jose Florez, MD, PhD | MGH Research Scholar Profile
MGH Research Scholar Jose Florez, MD, PhD, is translating insights from genetics into new clinical treatments for diabetes.
The Pharmacogenetics of Type 2 Diabetes
MGH Research Scholar 2013-2018
Chief of the Diabetes Unit
Investigator, Center for Genomic Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Florez's laboratory is engaged in translating new genetic findings from type 2 diabetes research into the clinical arena. He and his group help generate and analyze emerging genetic data in order to:
(1) Provide a more refined understanding of type 2 diabetes, both by dissecting its clinical heterogeneity and illuminating novel mechanistic pathways; (2) Offer a "proof of concept" for the role of selected genetic variants significantly associated with diabetes or related glycemic traits, by showing that behavioral or pharmacological manipulation of a particular gene pathway alters specific phenotypes in humans; and (3) Contribute to usher in the era of genomic medicine, in which the practical utility of known genetic variation may be rigorously tested in the prediction of disease, prognosis of its clinical course, response to preventive or therapeutic options and individual susceptibility to side effects.
To achieve these goals, Jose Florez and his group have participated in the evaluation of specific variants in candidate genes that encode hypoglycemic drug targets with type 2 diabetes. They have also contributed to the performance and analysis of genome-wide association scans in type 2 diabetes and related traits, both in the Diabetes Genetics Initiative of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Lund University and Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, as well as the Framingham Heart Study.