Jay Horton, M.D. Professor & Director Endowed Title Center for Human Nutrition Director's Endowed Chair; Distinguished University Chair in Human Nutrition; Scott Grundy Director's Chair School Medical School Department Center for Human Nutrition | Internal Medicine | Molecular Genetics Graduate Programs Cell and Molecular Biology You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Jay D. Horton obtained his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Iowa in 1984 and 1988, respectively. He completed his internal medicine residency (1988-1991) and gastroenterology fellowship (1991-1994) at UT Southwestern Medical Center. During his gastroenterology fellowship he studied metabolic regulators of bile acid and cholesterol homeostasis in animals. Following the gastroenterology fellowship, he completed a Howard Hughes post doctoral fellowship in the Department of Molecular Genetics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The studies in this fellowship focused on the transcriptional regulation of cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis. In clinical digestive diseases, Dr. Horton has an interest in conditions that lead to steatosis and obesity. Currently the laboratory is investigating molecular mediators of steatosis using various mouse models. Investigations from the laboratory have revealed how the primary transcriptional regulators of cholesterol metabolism (sterol regulatory element-binding proteins) are also key regulators of fatty acid synthesis in liver. A major focus of the laboratory is to determine how these transcriptional regulators contribute to the development of steatosis in various disease processes such as diabetes, obesity, and beta-oxidation defects. A second area of investigation centers on determining the function of PCSK9, a protein that is involved in determining plasma LDL cholesterol levels through its ability to post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of the LDL receptor in liver. Education Medical School University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (1988) Internship/Residency Parkland Health & Hospital System (1991), Internal Medicine Fellowship UT Southwestern Medical Center (1994), Gastroenterology Fellowship UT Southwestern Medical Center (1997), Molecular Genetics Research Interest Hepatic steatosis Lipid metabolism Publications Featured Publications Deletion of ELOVL6 Blocks the Synthesis of Oleic Acid but does not Prevent the Development of Fatty Liver or Insulin Resistance. Moon YA, Ochoa CR, Mitsche MA, Hammer RE, Horton JD J. Lipid Res. 2014 Oct A HFD suppresses de novo lipogenesis and desaturation, but not elongation and triglyceride synthesis in mice. Duarte JA, Carvalho F, Pearson M, Horton JD, Browning JD, Jones JG, Burgess SC J. Lipid Res. 2014 Sep An acetate switch regulates stress erythropoiesis. Xu M, Nagati JS, Xie J, Li J, Walters H, Moon YA, Gerard RD, Huang CL, Comerford SA, Hammer RE, Horton JD, Chen R, Garcia JA Nat. Med. 2014 Aug Hepatic gluconeogenesis is enhanced by phosphatidic Acid which remains uninhibited by insulin in lipodystrophic agpat2-/- mice. Sankella S, Garg A, Horton JD, Agarwal AK J. Biol. Chem. 2014 Feb 289 8 4762-77 Leptin ameliorates insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis in Agpat2-/- lipodystrophic mice independent of hepatocyte leptin receptors. Cortés VA, Cautivo KM, Rong S, Garg A, Horton JD, Agarwal AK J. Lipid Res. 2014 Feb 55 2 276-88 Acetyl CoA Carboxylase Inhibition Reduces Hepatic Steatosis but Elevates Plasma Triglycerides in Mice and Humans: A Bedside to Bench Investigation. Kim CW, Addy C, Kusunoki J, Anderson NN, Deja S, Fu X, Burgess SC, Li C, Ruddy M, Chakravarthy M, Previs S, Milstein S, Fitzgerald K, Kelley DE, Horton JD Cell Metab. 2017 Aug 26 2 394-406.e6 Inhibition of PCSK9 does not improve lipopolysaccharide-induced mortality in mice. Berger JM, Loza Valdes A, Gromada J, Anderson N, Horton JD J. Lipid Res. 2017 Jun Expression of SREBP-1c requires SREBP-2-mediated generation of a sterol ligand for LXR in livers of mice. Rong S, Cortés VA, Rashid S, Anderson NN, McDonald JG, Liang G, Moon YA, Hammer RE, Horton JD Elife 2017 Feb 6 A Highly Durable RNAi Therapeutic Inhibitor of PCSK9. Fitzgerald K, White S, Borodovsky A, Bettencourt BR, Strahs A, Clausen V, Wijngaard P, Horton JD, Taubel J, Brooks A, Fernando C, Kauffman RS, Kallend D, Vaishnaw A, Simon A N. Engl. J. Med. 2016 Nov AGPAT2 is essential for postnatal development and maintenance of white and brown adipose tissue. Cautivo KM, Lizama CO, Tapia PJ, Agarwal AK, Garg A, Horton JD, Cortés VA Mol Metab 2016 Jul 5 7 491-505 Results 1-10 of 11 1 2 Next Last Honors & Awards NIH INMP Study Section Ad Hoc (2017) American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Frontiers in Science Award (2016) American Society for Clinical InvestigationCouncil Member (2015-2018) Association of American Physicians (2008) American Society for Clinical Investigation (2003) Established InvestigatorAmerican Heart Foundation (2000) PEW ScholarPEW Foundation (2000) Research Scholar AwardAmerican Digestive Health Foundation (1999)