7 March DRC Researcher Sah Awarded Grant From ADA March 7, 2018 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center 0 Rajan Sah, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine Cardiology Division and member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center was recently awarded a Research Grant from the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The project entitled: SWELL1 regulation of ß-cell excitability and insulin secretion will be supported by the $345,000 award over the next three years. Also, this leading edge experimentation was published in the January issue of Nature Communication. Dr. Sah’s laboratory discovered that a protein SWELL1 regulates the electrical activity on the surface membranes of pancreatic beta cells that is critical for insulin release. Diabetes (elevated blood sugar) is a major cause of death and disease world-wide, and thus effective treatments will have a huge impact on health globally. Diabetes is characterized by both a loss of insulin sensitivity and, ultimately, a relative loss of insulin-secretion from the pancreatic beta-cell. Accordingly, therapeutic strategies for the treatment of diabetes aim to improve insulin-sensitivity or augment insulin-secretion from the pancreatic beta-cell. In this article, we describe a new protein in the pancreatic beta-cell that significantly affects insulin secretion. This protein is an ion channel that controls the flow of a particular ion out of the pancreatic beta cell and is responsible for activating it so that it secretes insulin. Our work is significant because it has identified a novel protein that regulates pancreatic beta cell insulin secretion in a very significant way. While previous research and pharmacotherapy have focused on inhibitory ion channels to augment insulin secretion from the beta cell, there has been little work on the necessary activating ion channels, in large part due to a gap in knowledge regarding the identity of these activating channels. We have filled this knowledge gap and anticipate that this new protein could represent a new drug target for beta cell targeted pharmacotherapy. Congratulations to the Sah Laboratory for this outstanding achievement. Related Articles DRC Receives $2.02 Million Training Grant From National Institutes of Health I am pleased to share with you that Dr. E. Dale Abel, Director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC) and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and Dr. Andrew (Andy) Norris, FOEDRC’s Associate Director, have just been awarded a five-year, $2.02M training grant from the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. The T32 grant will fund the Diabetes Research Training Program at the University of Iowa and will support up to six post-doctoral trainees or subspecialty fellows per year. The grant will support existing trainees or support the recruitment of outstanding new trainees to the University of Iowa. 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. 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. DRC Researchers Publish Major Breakthrough In Understanding How Diabetes Induces Eye Damage In the retina, diabetes damages nerves before it damages blood vessels. Diabetes is a major risk factor for severe vision loss and blindness. A condition known as retinal diabetic neuropathy causes visual impairment through the degeneration of small nerves (neurons) in light-sensitive tissue called the retina, which lines the back of the eye. A Special Message from DRC Director Dr. E. Dale Abel Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, After 8.5 years as Director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC), I write to share with you that I will be relocating from Iowa to California. In January, I will begin a new journey as Chair of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and executive medical director of the UCLA Health System’s Department of Medicine. I will continue to conduct diabetes research there but will pass over the reins of leading the FOEDRC to trusted colleagues who have served by my side throughout my tenure as your director. These are individuals that you have met and know and whom I am confident will continue to fulfill your dream of curing diabetes. In the meantime, I will remain a senior advisor to the new leaders of the FOEDRC and in this way continue to fulfill my commitment to your mission. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from your Grand Presidents! Brothers and Sisters, We’ve almost made it through 2020 and all the chaos this unexpected year has brought us. While the struggles we have faced this year are different than any we have experienced before, we wanted to thank all of our amazing Eagles members for their perseverance, positivity, and adaptability during this time. Adjusting to this year has been an exercise in problem solving. As government orders forced the shutdown of many of our Aeries & Auxiliaries, you all persevered, finding new ways to raise funds and handle business despite the limitations placed upon us. We were able to raise a grand total of $3,665,516 for the F.O.E. Charity Foundation and its various funds. Past Grand Worthy President Ron Malz raised $83,607.59 for his charity, Confidence Learning Center, while Past Grand Madam President Gloria Williams raised $46,734.96 for the Special Olympics, and an additional $37,986.50 for her other project, the F.O.E. Diabetes Research Center. As your Grand Presidents, we’ve spent our year raising money for the DRC Bridge to the Cure, Camp Civitan, and the Penticton Regional Hospital, and can’t wait to update you on how much we raised during the 2021 Convention in Phoenix, AZ! Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.