|
|
| Quarterly update from the DMRC
| |
|
DMRC community,
The deadline approaches for the upcoming Diabetes Research Center P30 application! This will be a fantastic opportunity to show off the exceptional science taking place at the University of Utah, and to highlight our unique attributes as a highly collaborative and congenial community. We want to especially thank you all for providing information to support the application. We understand how much time these activities take, and we appreciate your help to make this application as strong as it can be.
A big congratulations to the four seed grant recipients of the 2021 Driving Out Diabetes Initiative and Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center call for pilot proposals. We continue to receive exceptional applications, and are thrilled to support such excellent projects.
Finally, we are approaching the one-year anniversary of the drastic changes in all of our lives brought about by COVID-19. We offer our sincere thanks for all of your efforts to support each other, both in work and in life.
Warmly,
Scott Summers & Jared Rutter, DMRC Co-Directors
| |
Four University of Utah projects have received grants designed to activate novel research in the areas of diabetes, obesity, and metabolism.
Project Titles & Awardees
Katie Baucom (psychology): “Understanding Implementation of the CDC NDPP Delivered to Hispanic/Latinx Americans.”
- A study, based on interviews of lifestyle coaches for the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), to understand how to successfully implement and adapt the NDPP for Latinx Americans
Keke Fairfax (pathology): “Identifying Helminth antigens that modulate metabolism.”
- An investigation of the modulation of bone marrow-derived hepatic macrophage metabolism to discover novel antigens with therapeutic potential in a mouse model of metabolic disease.
Mary Playdon (nutrition and integrative physiology): “Treatment and lifestyle determinants of type 2 diabetes risk and consequences among cancer survivors.”
- A project to measure the association between cancer and diabetes (and related factors) in several large data cohorts.
Candace Reno (internal medicine): “The Role of Parasympathetic Dysfunction in type 1 Diabetes in Mediating Hypoglycemia-Induced Fatal Cardiac Arrhythmias.”
- An investigation into how parasympathetic nervous system sends signals from the brain to the heart during hypoglycemia that lead to cardiac arrhythmias.
| |
|
An experimental treatment can essentially reverse type 1 diabetes in certain types of laboratory mice, according to a series of studies led by University of Utah Health scientists. An injection of the therapeutic agent converts cells that normally control glucose production into ones that generate insulin.
The researchers say giving the animals a single dose of a human antibody that suppress the actions of glucagon, a hormone involved in glucose regulation, sparked a remarkable transformation in the pancreas, leading to a nearly 7-fold increase in insulin cell mass and the suppression of diabetic symptoms.
| |
Researchers at the University of Utah Health have identified a new therapeutic target to treat patients with type 1 diabetes. The study, which will be published December 9 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), reveals that inhibiting a protein called OCA-B protects mice from type 1 diabetes by limiting the activity of immune cells that would otherwise destroy the pancreas’ insulin-producing β cells.
| |
Cancer patients—and the general public—have a strong interest in what dietary factors might prevent cancer or improve survival after cancer diagnosis. Many questions remain because dietary measurement is prone to errors that can make it difficult to detect diet- cancer signals. Using cutting-edge technologies, we have uncovered a trove of objective dietary biomarkers from tiny drops of blood or urine that can be used to better measure diet. These biomarkers can tell us what a person ate, how that food might have been processed and prepared, and how their metabolism has responded to diet. In addition, many cancer survivors, particularly survivors of obesity-related cancers, are at high risk of developing comorbidities after cancer diagnosis, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We are exploring the metabolic factors that drive cardiometabolic diseases among cancer patients and identifying and testing dietary strategies that can improve their metabolic health.
| |
Opportunities
- Take advantage of the opportunity to have an external peer review of any extramural multi-year grants totaling >$500K for applications that focus on diabetes, obesity, or metabolism. Investigators must have already secured one internal reviewer to review their grant application. Find out more here.
Access the Cardiovascular Genetics Cohorts- The DMRC has acquired a large number of clinical serum samples from researchers from the prior Division of Cardiovascular Genetics. These include clinical studies relating to body habitus (e.g. studies of extreme familial thinness, familial obesity, gastric bypass), premature coronary artery disease, heart failure, diabetes, etc. These collections are indexed with electronic health records and contain extensive information about clinical outcomes. If you would like to discuss ways to collaborate and use these samples in your study, please contact Scott Summers.
New metabolism workshops!- Has someone at the U approached you for feedback on a project involving metabolism? Contact Bridget or Sara and we will help organize a workshop with multiple investigators to consult.
| |
Rising Stars in Metabolism: Celebrating diversity and excellence in science
We are proud to partner with several departments and divisions to host the seminar series, "Rising Stars in Metabolism: Celebrating diversity and excellence in science." The focus of this series is to amplify voices that are often less heard, and provide an avenue to learn about cutting edge science in metabolism. We hope you will attend all that you can!
Stay tuned for more details on the "Rising Stars in Population Health, Clinical, and Bioinformatics Research!"
| |
Stay in the know
Subscribe to:
| |
|
|
|
|
