30 January Abel Chosen To Lead One of Four American Heart Association Research Networks January 30, 2020 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center 0 E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, has been awarded a four-year $3.8M grant from the American Heart Association (AHA) to investigate mechanisms that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes. Abel will oversee a Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) of three projects in partnership with other UI departments and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School. The team will examine the relationship between novel secreted molecules from liver, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle that may directly or indirectly lead to damage of the heart and blood vessels in individuals with diabetes. Abel and his network will compare molecules secreted from obese mice and obesity-protected mice to identify those that can mediate cardiovascular injury. The MGH group will examine the release of specific cargo called exosomes (extracellular vesicles) from fat tissue biopsies obtained before or after bariatric surgery. The team will characterize these cardiovascular damaging molecules by characterizing the content of these vesicles and determining their impact on cardiovascular cells using a novel organ-on-chip technology. “These studies will identify new risk factors for cardiovascular disease in high-risk individuals with obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes,” Abel said. “The knowledge gained from these studies will enable physicians to specifically determine the risk for cardiovascular disease in individuals with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes to ensure that personalized therapies can be offered.” Using serum samples from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) large-scale study, the population study team will measure the concentrations of more than one hundred proteins to find correlations between circulating metabolites and the distribution of body fat in the abdomen and heart. Abel serves as the overall Center Director and Principal Investigator (PI) on this project, joined by Training Director Kamal Rahmouni, PhD, of the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Basic Project PI Ethan Anderson, PhD, of the College of Pharmacy. These three University of Iowa researchers are also members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center. The clinical and population projects will be led by colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital: the Clinical Project PI is Saumya Das, MD, PhD, and the Population Project PI is Ravi Shah, MD. This award was received after a national competition in response to a specific call for applications from the AHA. Three other institutions also received grants to generate independent SFRNs to address similar questions related to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These will be located at Johns Hopkins, New York University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The four SFRNs including the one at the University of Iowa, will form a research consortium. Related Articles American Diabetes Association Supports FOEDRC Researchers DRC Director's Report - January 2018 Three researchers from the FOEDRC received new grants from the American Diabetes Association for groundbreaking research. The ability of our members to receive these competitive awards is truly remarkable and underscores the quality and rigor of the research that is being conducted in the FOEDRC. There are few institutions that received multiple awards in this current round of ADA funding. The awards to Drs. Ling Yang, Rajan Sah and Adam Rauckhorst are summarized below. How Diabetes Harms The Heart Study in mice involving FOEDRC researchers, reveals heart-damaging pathway triggered by insulin, identifies possible drug targets to prevent or treat heart failure. Diabetes is hard on the heart. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in people with diabetes, and risk for heart failure—where the heart can’t pump enough blood—is two to three times higher in men and up to five times higher in women with diabetes compared to people without diabetes. DRC Director's Report - January 2021 A recent study by a team of UI researchers led by E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, Director, FOEDRC discovered eating a ketogenic diet rescued mice from heart failure. The study, published in the November issue of the journal Nature Metabolism, was one of three companion papers from independent research teams that all point to the damaging effects of excess sugar (glucose) and its breakdown products on the heart. The UI study also revealed the potential to mitigate that damage by supplying the heart with alternate fuel sources in the form of high-fat diets. Given its need for a constant, reliable supply of energy, the heart is very flexible about the type of molecules it can burn for fuel. Most of the heart’s energy comes from metabolizing fatty acids, but heart cells can also burn glucose and lactate, and also ketones. DRC Researchers Describe A Novel Effect of A Heart Failure Medication to Reduce Diabetes Nerve Damage Peripheral neuropathy affects more than 50% of patients with diabetes and about 30% of subjects with pre-diabetes. There is no completely effective treatment for this complication of diabetes. Casey Receives Grant Funding from American Diabetes Association Congratulations to Darren Casey, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation science, for recently receiving the American Diabetes Association Innovative Clinical or Translational Science Award. For his proposal entitled - Nitrate supplementation and exercise tolerance in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. Dr. Casey received this award after a National Competition that selected a fraction of the most meritorious proposals. Iowa Names Dr. Abel Chair and DEO of Department of Internal Medicine IOWA CITY, IA - E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, has been appointed the new Chair and Departmental Executive Officer of the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.