World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Biology and Biochemistry

D-Index
83
Citations
26403
World Ranking
3476
National Ranking
1746

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2017 - Distinguished Scientist Award, Mineralogical Society of America
  • 2015 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 2014 - Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America For pioneering contributions advancing the field of fluorescence microscopy and for dedicated service to the field of microscopy and to MSA.
  • 2000 - Fellow of American Physical Society (APS) Citation For outstanding contributions to the development, application, and dissemination of quantitative spectroscopic methods to the imaging of proteins and small molecules, their environment, and their interactions within single living cells

Overview

David W. Piston is affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Medicine and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, with significant contributions in Surgery, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, and Cell Biology.

The scientist's work focuses extensively on pancreatic function and diabetes, as well as related areas such as diabetes and associated disorders, metabolism involving diabetes and cancer, receptor mechanisms and signaling, diabetes treatment and management, advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques, and endoplasmic reticulum stress and disease.

Frequent venues for publication include the Biophysical Journal, bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Diabetes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nature Communications. These represent platforms where the scientist has shared research findings across multiple studies.

Some of the recent papers authored or co-authored by David W. Piston are:

  • Primary cilia control glucose homeostasis via islet paracrine interactions (2020), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Palmitoylation couples insulin hypersecretion with β cell failure in diabetes (2023), Cell Metabolism
  • Wolfram syndrome 1 gene regulates pathways maintaining beta-cell health and survival (2020), Laboratory Investigation
  • Intercellular Communication in the Islet of Langerhans in Health and Disease (2021), Comprehensive Physiology
  • Scanning electron microscopy of human islet cilia (2023), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Among frequent co-authors collaborating with David W. Piston are Xue Wen Ng, Alessandro Ustione, Michael R. DiGruccio, Chen Kong, and Daniel J. Foust.

The scientist has received several professional recognitions, including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Mineralogical Society of America in 2017. They are a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2015, a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America since 2014 for work advancing fluorescence microscopy and service to the microscopy field, and have been a Fellow of the American Physical Society since 2000 with a citation emphasizing contributions to spectroscopic methods for imaging proteins and small molecules in living cells.

Best Publications

  • An improved cyan fluorescent protein variant useful for FRET.

    Megan A Rizzo;Gerald H Springer;Butch Granada;David W Piston

  • Use of the green fluorescent protein and its mutants in quantitative fluorescence microscopy.

    G.H. Patterson;S.M. Knobel;W.D. Sharif;S.R. Kain

  • Fluorescent protein FRET: the good, the bad and the ugly

    David W. Piston;Gert-Jan Kremers

  • Ablation of PRDM16 and Beige Adipose Causes Metabolic Dysfunction and a Subcutaneous to Visceral Fat Switch

    Paul Cohen;Julia D. Levy;Yingying Zhang;Andrea Frontini

  • Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) as regulators of dorsal forebrain development

    Yasuhide Furuta;David W. Piston;Brigid L. M. Hogan

  • A bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) system: Application to interacting circadian clock proteins

    Yao Xu;David W. Piston;Carl Hirschie Johnson

  • Regulation of corepressor function by nuclear NADH.

    Qinghong Zhang;David W. Piston;Richard H. Goodman

  • Photobleaching in two-photon excitation microscopy.

    George H. Patterson;David W. Piston

  • Electron microscopy of whole cells in liquid with nanometer resolution

    N. de Jonge;D. B. Peckys;G. J. Kremers;D. W. Piston

  • Quantitative assessment of fluorescent proteins

    Paula J Cranfill;Paula J Cranfill;Paula J Cranfill;Brittney R Sell;Michelle A Baird;John R Allen

  • Förster distances between green fluorescent protein pairs.

    George H. Patterson;David W. Piston;B.George Barisas

  • Reduction in pancreatic transcription factor PDX-1 impairs glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.

    Marcela Brissova;Masakazu Shiota;Wendell E. Nicholson;Maureen Gannon

  • Fluorescent protein spectra

    George Patterson;Rich N. Day;David Piston

  • Three-dimensionally resolved NAD(P)H cellular metabolic redox imaging of the in situ cornea with two-photon excitation laser scanning microscopy.

    D. W. Piston;B. R. Masters;W. W. Webb

  • Amphiregulin Exosomes Increase Cancer Cell Invasion

    James N. Higginbotham;Michelle Demory Beckler;Jonathan D. Gephart;Jeffrey L. Franklin

  • Direct Effect of Cholesterol on Insulin Secretion: A Novel Mechanism for Pancreatic β-Cell Dysfunction

    Mingming Hao;W. Steven Head;Subhadra C. Gunawardana;Alyssa H. Hasty

  • Reversal of Type 1 Diabetes in Mice by Brown Adipose Tissue Transplant

    Subhadra C. Gunawardana;David W. Piston

  • Two-Photon Excitation Microscopy for the Study of Living Cells and Tissues

    Richard K.P. Benninger;David W. Piston

  • Separation of the glucose-stimulated cytoplasmic and mitochondrial NAD(P)H responses in pancreatic islet beta cells.

    George H. Patterson;Susan M. Knobel;Per Arkhammar;Ole Thastrup

  • Two-photon molecular excitation provides intrinsic 3-dimensional resolution for laser-based microscopy and microphotochemistry.

    Rebecca M. Williams;David W. Piston;Watt W. Webb

Frequent Co-Authors

Mark A. Magnuson
Mark A. Magnuson Vanderbilt University
Alvin C. Powers
Alvin C. Powers Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Ishwar D. Aggarwal
Ishwar D. Aggarwal University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Michael W. Davidson
Michael W. Davidson Florida State University
Giorgio Margaritondo
Giorgio Margaritondo École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
James M. May
James M. May Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Fumihiko Urano
Fumihiko Urano Washington University in St. Louis
Lynn M. Matrisian
Lynn M. Matrisian Vanderbilt University
Enrico Gratton
Enrico Gratton University of California, Irvine
Carl Hirschie Johnson
Carl Hirschie Johnson Vanderbilt University

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