Frank Huynh
Assistant Professor of Teaching
PhD in Physiology, University of British Columbia
BSc in Biochemistry, University of British Columbia
Dr. Frank Huynh obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and PhD in Physiology from the University of British Columbia. During his PhD, he studied the effects of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin on regulating glucose and lipid metabolism. Dr. Huynh completed his post-doctoral training at Duke University Medical Center, where he studied the metabolic functions of a family of deacylase enzymes called sirtuins, which are thought to have anti-aging properties. As an Assistant Professor at San José State University, Dr. Huynh continued to investigate how nutrients are metabolized and how this contributes to both normal and pathological processes.
Throughout his academic training, Dr. Huynh combined his research interests with his passion for teaching. As a teaching assistant at UBC, Dr. Huynh taught undergraduate physiology labs. While completing his post-doctoral training, he obtained an Adjunct Assistant Professor position at Elon University, where he also taught undergraduate physiology labs. As an Assistant Professor at San José State University, Dr. Huynh led a federally-funded research lab while also teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses in integrative physiology, comparative physiology, endocrine physiology as well as the systems physiology lab course.
Huynh FK, Peterson BS, Anderson KA, Lin Z, Coakley AJ, Llaguno FMS, Nguyen TN, Campbell JE, Stephens SB, Newgard CB, and Hirschey MD. (2020) β-Cell-specific ablation of sirtuin 4 does not affect nutrient-stimulated insulin secretion in mice. American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism 319(4):E805-E813.
Naiman S, Huynh FK, Gil R, Glick Y, Shahar Y, Touitou N, Nahum L, Avivi MY, Roichman A, Kanfi Y, Gertler AA, Doniger T, Ilkayeva OR, Abramovich I, Yaron O, Lerrer B, Gottlieb E, Harris RA, Gerber D, Hirschey MD, and Cohen HY. (2019) SIRT6 Promotes Hepatic Beta-Oxidation via Activation of PPARα. Cell Reports 29(12):4127-4143.
Huynh FK, Hu X, Lin Z, Johnson JD, and Hirschey MD (2018) Loss of sirtuin 4 leads to increased glucose- and leucine-stimulated insulin levels and accelerated age-induced insulin resistance in multiple murine genetic backgrounds. Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease 41(1): 59-72.
Weir HJ, Yao P, Huynh FK, Escoubas C, Goncalves RL, Burkewitz K, Laboy R, Hirschey MD, and Mair WB. (2017) Dietary restriction and AMPK increase lifespan via mitochondrial network and peroxisome remodeling. Cell Metabolism 26(6): 884-896.
Anderson KA*, Huynh FK*, Fisher-Wellman K, Stuart JD, Peterson BS, Douros JD, Wagner GR, Thompson JW, Madsen AS, Green MF, Sivley RM, Ilkayeva OR, Stevens RD, Backos DS, Capra JA, Olsen CA, Campbell JE, Muoio DM, Grimsrud PA, and Hirschey MD. (2017) SIRT4 is a lysine deacylase that controls leucine metabolism and insulin secretion. Cell Metabolism 25(4): 838-855. *These authors contributed equally to this work.
Further publications can be found here.