Joshua Knowles

Joshua W. Knowles, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: Dr. Knowles' research has been centered on understanding the genetic basis for insulin resistance (IR). He has helped to lead a large international consortium (GENESIS) that has identified novel insulin sensitivity genes and is focused on understanding the causal mechanisms for these genes. He has also pioneered the creation of induced pluripotent cell models of IR to serve as a resource for the greater scientific community. Knowles is also a clinician with a strong interest in understanding the cardiovascular implications of insulin resistance specifically statin-associated type 2 diabetes. He has had long-term and productive collaborations with other members of SDRC, detailed below and in his biosketch. Dr. Knowles is co-leader of the Metabolism and Signaling in Diabetes Research Affinity Group of SDRC. 

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC members in BOLD):

  1. Shahbazi M, Cundiff P, Zhou W, Lee P, Patel A, D’Souza SL, Abbasi F, Quertermous T, Knowles JW. The role of insulin as a key regulator of seeding, proliferation, and mRNA transcription of human pluripotent stem cells. Stem Cell Res Ther 10(1): 228, 2019. [cites SDRC and DGAC support] 

  2. Harati H, Zanetti D, Rao A, Gustafsson S, Perez M, Ingelsson E, Knowles JW. No evidence of a causal association of type 2 diabetes and glucose metabolism with atrial fibrillation. Diabetologia 62: 800-804, 2019.  

  3. Cook NL, Pjanic M, Emmerich AG, Rao AS, Hetty S, Knowles JW, Quertermous T, Castillejo-López C, Ingelsson E. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockout of SPRY2 in human hepatocytes leads to increased glucose uptake and lipid droplet accumulation. BMC Endocr Disord. 2019 Oct 29;19(1):115. doi: 10.1186/s12902-019-0442-8. PMID: 31664995; PMCID: PMC6820957. 

  4. Fathzadeh M, Li J, Rao A, Cook N, Chennamsetty I, Seldin M, Zhou X, Sangwung P, Gloudemans MJ, Keller M, Attie A, Yang J, Wabitsch M, Carcamo-Orive I, Tada Y, Lusis AJ, Shin MK, Molony CM, McLaughlin T, Reaven G, Montgomery SB, Reilly D, Quertermous T, Ingelsson E, Knowles JW. FAM13A affects body fat distribution and adipocyte function. Nat Commun. 2020 Mar 19;11(1):1465. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15291-z. PMID: 32193374; PMCID: PMC7081215. [cites SDRC core support]