2 February DRC Directors' Report - February 2023 February 2, 2023 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center DRC, Diabetes, Iowa 0 Congratulations to our Bridge to the Cure new recipient! We are pleased to announce that Dr. Bing Li was selected as a new recipient of the Bridge to the Cure award. Dr. Li will join current recipients of this Award: Dr Julien Sebag and Dr. Calvin Carter. The Bridge to a Cure initiative is designed to support members of the FOEDRC to accelerate promising research aimed at the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment and/or prevention of diabetes. The support has been made possible by an ongoing commitment of the Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) to support the mission of the FOEDRC. The FOEDRC has assembled an external advisory committee that is tasked with reviewing the proposed projects. This committee is also involved in assessing progress, providing intellectual support and guidance towards meeting expected milestones and with making a recommendation to the F.O.E. foundation regarding future funding of each project. Funded applicants are expected to provide bi-annual written progress reports and oral presentations to the advisory board and UIRF. Intellectual property arising from work funded will be subject to University of Iowa stipulations. Bing Li, PhD Professor, Department of Pathology Project: Targeting A-FABP with humanized anti-A-FABP monoclonal antibodies for treatment of diabetes The epidemic of obesity we witnessed over the last few decades is mostly caused by overnutrition. Excess energy stored in adipose tissues leads to fat accumulation, chronic inflammation and multiple obesity-related diseases, including diabetes. Multiple molecular mechanisms linking obesity/diabetes have been proposed, including adipose fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP, also known as FABP4) which has emerged as a new adipokine that promote diabetes development by supporting the production of glucose in the liver and impairing the function of insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. Thus, targeting A-FABP represents a novel strategy for diabetes treatment. To inhibit AFABP activity, Dr. Bing Li’s group has developed the first humanized anti-A-FABP antibodies, which showed efficacy in lowing glucose levels and increasing insulin sensitivity in preliminary studies. Through the Bridge to the Cure Initiative, Dr. Li’s group will further develop the antibodies and test their therapeutic efficacy using different diabetic animal models. Completion of the project will greatly enhance the commercialization potential of this new treatment for diabetes and other obesity associated diseases. Related Articles DRC Directors' Report - June 2023 This year the American Diabetes Association (ADA) organizes an annual scientific meeting that is attended by thousands of diabetes researchers from across the globe. This is the largest and most important diabetes research meeting. This year, the ADA is expecting over 12,000 participants in their scientific meeting, which will be held June 23 - 26 in San Diego, California. The annual ADA scientific meetings serve as a crucial platform for the exchange of knowledge and advancements in the field of diabetes research. These conferences are planned and organized by select diabetes scientists who work to ensure a successful and impactful event. DRC Director's Report - July 2023 Dr. Julien Sebag is leading one of the research projects funded through the Bridge to Cure program. This month, his project has reached a major milestone, having been published in a prestigious journal. In this publication Dr. Sebag recognized the support provided by the FOE through the Bridge to the Cure program. DRC Director's Report - May 2023 The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center held its Annual Diabetes Research Day on Monday, April 17th. With a strong emphasis on collaboration and sharing of knowledge, this event brought together about 65 researchers, clinicians, and students to advance the understanding of diabetes and improve patient outcomes. Diabetes Research Day featured a lineup of activities including short talks, a keynote address, T32 presentations and a poster session DRC Director's Report - August 2023 The FOEDRC maintains two Core Research Facilities. FOEDRC scientists rely heavily on these two Core Research Facilities. These Cores are centralized laboratories that allow researchers to perform experiments needing specialized technologies in a time- and cost-efficient way. This month we focus our report on the world-class FOEDRC Metabolomics Core Facility. DRC Director's Report - September 2023 Health and Human Physiology assistant professor Anna Stanhewicz has just been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health totaling $3.035 million to put towards her research. Her focus lies in gestational diabetes and the long-term impact it has on those who have had it. Women who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy are two times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 7 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes in the decade after pregnancy, but the reason why this occurs is unclear and there are currently no specific treatment strategies to prevent this disease progression. DRC Director's Report - February 2019 The Department of Defense office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs has awarded DRC member, Ethan Anderson, Associate Professor College of Pharmacy, funding as part of its Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) Discovery Award competition. The project is: Exploiting the Paracrine-Like Effect of Prohibitin-1 to Treat Septic Cardiomyopathy. The grant will provide $310,000 in total support over a 2-year period. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.