2 November DRC Director's Report - November 2023 November 2, 2023 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center DRC, Diabetes, Iowa, Charities 0 A critical function of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center is to train new generations of diabetes researchers. To this end, since 2017, the FOEDRC has received a “T32” grant from the NIH that funds up to six annual positions for postdoctoral fellows to receive advanced training in diabetes research. Postdoctoral fellows are scientists and/or physicians who have recently received their doctorate degree and who are in the final stages of training to become independent scientists. We want to share the work of one of our recent T32 trainees who has now gone on to further success in the field of diabetes research. Dr. Catherina Pinnaro is a physician, who in 2018 applied to our T32 program in hopes to obtain advanced training in diabetes research. Her goal was to devise research approaches to better understanding why women with Turner syndrome (TS) develop diabetes. Women with TS have a much higher risk of developing diabetes mellitus compared to the general population; however, the reasons for this are unknown. Dr. Pinnaro was accepted into our T32 program for two years of training. A research mentorship team helped guide her through learning about advanced diabetes research techniques. Dr. Pinnaro finished the T32 program in 2020 and joined the faculty at the University of Iowa as a physician scientist, splitting her time between taking care of patients with endocrine conditions such as diabetes and running her clinical research program studying women with TS. She recently applied for an NIH “K23” grant to support her new research program, and we are pleased to announce that her grant is now funded. Her research will take three approaches to better understand diabetes risk in women with TS. The first approach will study the genetics of women with TS. She will determine if it is women with TS who are missing genes from their father or mother who are at risk for diabetes. The second approach will determine whether there are changes in pancreas function among women with TS that might contribute to diabetes risk. The third approach will study the home glucose patterns in women with TS using continuous glucose monitoring. Dr. Pinnaro was recently bestowed The Corridor Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 award which recognize 40 leaders under the age of 40 who have made a significant impact in their business and community early in their careers. She was recognized for creating a positive experience for her patients at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, while simultaneously pursuing her passion for research on pediatric diabetes. Congratulations to Dr. Pinnaro for achieving NIH funding and being recognized as a leader. We look forward to what her studies will teach us about diabetes and its causes. Related Articles DRC Director's Report - November 2018 We have known for a very long time that obesity is associated with many cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease (where liver stores fat in large lipid droplets), coronary artery disease, heart failure, and many more chronic diseases are all linked to obesity. 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 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 - November 2020 FOE Diabetes Research Center scientists from the University of Iowa have discovered a safe new way to manage blood sugar non-invasively. Exposing diabetic mice to a combination of static electric and magnetic fields for a few hours per day normalizes two major hallmarks of type 2 diabetes, namely reducing blood glucose levels and preventing insulin resistance. These new findings were published Oct. 6 in Cell Metabolism. DRC Director's Report - November 2021 In September 2021, Brian T. O’Neill, Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine and member of FOEDRC, published a paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that shows how insulin and the closely related insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) work in muscle to regulate energy production in mitochondria by suppressing the activation of FoxO transcription factors. Decreased muscle strength and muscle atrophy are features of long-standing or uncontrolled diabetes that can worsen with aging or bedrest after surgery. 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. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.