22 July DRC Director's Report - July 2023 July 22, 2023 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center DRC, Diabetes, Iowa 0 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. This publication is notable because in it Dr. Sebag and his colleagues report for the first time a new approach to treat diabetes. The new approach uses a molecule they designed that activates a protein called GLUT4 that removes glucose from the blood stream in response to insulin. Under normal conditions, GLUT4 transport glucose from the blood to tissues such as skeletal muscle and adipose tissue where it is utilized or stored. The GLUT4 activation process is impaired in type 2 diabetes leading to high levels of glucose in the blood. Dr. Sebag reasoned that restoring the activation of GLUT4 should lower blood glucose and protect from type 2 diabetes. To achieve this, he developed a novel high throughput assay that allowed him to screen 50,000 molecules to identify those that can restore GLUT4 activation. In addition, he generated a new mouse model that enables measurement of GLUT4 activation in live animals. Using these brand new tools, Dr. Sebag identified an example molecule that improved the activation of GLUT4 by insulin and promoted glucose removal from the blood. He then synthesized several new molecules based on the example molecule, finding ones that are even more potent at restoring GLUT4 activation. When given to a mouse model of type 2 diabetes, these new molecules significantly improved the ability of those animals to maintain normal blood glucose. Importantly, he identified the target of the new molecules as the protein called Unc119b. This protein has not previously been implicated in the control of glucose homeostasis and this represent a new potential target for the development of anti-diabetic drugs. Ultimately, Dr. Sebag’s study represents a significant advance in the diabetes field since it identifies a new mechanism and new molecules to improve glucose abnormalities in type 2 diabetes. Ongoing work in Dr. Sebag’s lab is aimed at moving these results to humans by testing the safety and efficacy of these new molecules to treat diabetes in people. Related Articles DRC Director's Report - July 2022 Recently, the University of Iowa Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC) held our annual Diabetes Research Day in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. This year, Diabetes Research Day was a hybrid event comprised of speakers from both institutions and split into two different events. Our first keynote speaker was Bryan Bergman, PhD. Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus who gave a talk entitled Intermuscular Adipose Tissue: A Novel Adipose Depot Impacting Muscle Strength, Size, and Insulin Sensitivity in Humans. DRC Director's Report - July 2021 The Spring 2021 issue of the Carver College of Medicine Magazine “Medicine at Iowa”, circulated to all UI alumni, featured an important serendipitous breakthrough by scientists at the University of Iowa Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC). FOEDRC scientists discovered at safe new way to manage blood sugar non-invasively with electromagnetic fields (EMFs). This discovery could have major benefits in diabetes care, particularly for patients whose current treatment plan is cumbersome and involves checking their blood sugar multiple times daily with finger sticks. 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 - July 2020 The greatest risks to long-term health in people with diabetes arise from diabetic complications, particularly cardiovascular disease. However, the mechanisms by which the metabolic changes associated with type 2 diabetes like insulin resistance increases the risk of heart failure are less understood. In a recent publication in JCI Insight, E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, and other members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center in collaboration with other institutions, have uncovered an important molecular link between diabetes and heart failure. 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. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.