This proposal will continue progress of the UAB DRC first established in 2008. Our mission is: ?Alleviate suffering and the social burden caused by diabetes and cardiometabolic disease through innovative, multidisciplinary, basic and translational research and research training, which advances understanding of disease mechanisms, prevention, and treatment?. Over 9 years, the DRC has galvanized the UAB research community around the study of diabetes resulting in increased membership by 69% from 115 to 194 and an increase in active extramural diabetes research funding to a total of $62,427,510 annual direct costs. Our center?s goals are to facilitate excellence in diabetes research, further develop a cohesive intellectual community promoting collaboration and innovation, and provide an outstanding environment for training and career development. Our research emphasizes the study of diabetes as both a metabolic and vascular disease and includes areas of research excellence including molecular signaling, islet biology & autoimmunity, integrative metabolism vascular disease/inflammation, diabetes complications, genetics & epidemiology, and interventions & community based research.
Our specific aims are to: 1. Facilitate and enhance diabetes research by sponsoring research core facilities expressly required by our investigator base and that cover a broad translational spectrum: Bioanalytical REDOX Biology, Animal Physiology, Human Physiology, and Interventions & Translation Cores. 2. Augment diabetes research via a pilot & feasibility grant program that will emphasize innovation, translation, and career development of highly promising junior investigators. 3. Sponsor an integrated Enrichment Program that promotes a cohesive environment for an outstanding multi-disciplinary investigator base, which will enhance learning, collaboration, collegiality, and innovation. 4. Emphasize research, training, and outreach that are responsive to the needs of our trainees, achieve better outcomes for our patients, and lessen the high burden of diabetes in our community and nation. 5. Respond to the evolving needs of our investigators and through leadership that impels new ideas and lines of investigation, and leverage the resolve of UAB leadership, substantial institutional commitments, and generous philanthropy from our community to further impel the development of a pre-eminent center of diabetes research excellence in the heart of the Deep South. The DRC has exerted a pronounced impact on diabetes research excellence at UAB in a community with the highest rates of diabetes in the US, and has united investigators around common themes to study diabetes in the context of cardiometabolic disease. We are confident that further evolution and growth will be achieved over the next 5 years.
The UAB DRC is the only NIDDK diabetes center located in the Deep South, at the 'Diabetes Belt' epicenter characterized by the highest rates of diabetes in the US. Through its core facilities, pilot grants, and enrichment activities, the Center has developed an effective strategy for promoting excellence in diabetes research, new discoveries, and a strong environment for training the next generation of research leaders. Thus, the UAB DRC endeavors to develop better ways to prevent and treat diabetes, and lessen the burden of patient suffering and high social costs of diabetes.
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