I am pleased to welcome you all to another issue of the Stanford Diabetes Research Center (SDRC) Newsletter where you can learn about the achievements of SDRC members, collaborators and trainees and the efforts of the SDRC to support its incredible team of researchers through its pilot and feasibility grants and facilitating training programs in K-award proposals.
I would like to reiterate SDRC’s core mission of promoting innovations in diabetes research through collaborations and use this opportunity to highlight the continued expansion of multidisciplinary and collaborative research among SDRC members in the fields of basic science, clinical science and translational science.
An example of such a collaboration is SDRC member Dr. Justin Annes’ work with Dr. Richard Zare from the Department of Chemistry at Stanford on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant spearheaded by Dr. Armin Arbabian from the Department of Engineering. The team is developing a minimally invasive implantable drug delivery system to deliver anti-hypoglycemic agents in response to low blood glucose.
I am also excited about teaming up with Dr. Chaitan Khosla at ChEM-H (Center for Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine for Human Health), on a pending clinical trial proposal to test the drug Latiglutenase in a vulnerable cohort of patients with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease.
The SDRC is proud to support its junior faculty members and instructors in their career development through awards and collaborative projects. This issue of the newsletter highlights the research achievements of SDRC Pilot and Feasibility grant awardee, Dr. Nadine Nagy who is an SDRC member and Instructor at the Stanford School of Medicine. In this context, we are excited to announce that we are now accepting 2019 Pilot and Feasibility grant applications. I am also honored to collaborate with Dr. Bruce Buckingham on a project helmed by Dr. Eric Appel who recently received a career development award from the American Diabetes Association to develop new insulin formulations with ultra-fast onset of action with short duration of action. Dr. Appel is also leading an NIH funded study with Dr. Bruce Buckingham and our team to formulate a combination therapy with insulin and amylin analogues for type 1 diabetes.
The SDRC is committed to providing resources, training and support to its instructors, students and postdoctoral scholars and promoting their research careers. I am pleased to congratulate SDRC member, Dr. Molly Tanenbaum, Clinical Researcher, licensed Clinical Psychologist and Department of Pediatrics Instructor, on the receipt of a K23 award for her research on improving diabetes management via technology and emotional support. I am also excited about spearheading a K12 award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) facilitating instructors to conduct type 1 diabetes research.
I would like to applaud the achievements of our younger trainees, Dr. Keren Hilgendorf, Dr. Owen Jiang and Dr. Yunshin Jung who won poster awards during the recently held 4th Annual Frontiers in Diabetes Research Symposium. I also congratulate graduate student Timothy Horton from Dr. Justin Annes’ group on being awarded the Diabetes Knowledge Award for advancing innovative and collaborative research in the field for his paper “Zinc-Chelating Small Molecules Preferentially Accumulate and Function within Pancreatic beta cells”. The symposium featured talks by SDRC member PIs and trainees, and also by researchers from other institutions such as keynote speaker Dr. Michael German, Dr. Suneil Koliwad and Dr. Julie Sneddon from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and Dr. Jon Piganelli from the University of Pittsburgh. The SDRC thrives on the exchange of ideas and alliances forged at symposia such as these.
We are excited about the high quality, interdisciplinary nature of the research that has been fostered by the SDRC and the P30 grant through which the SDRC is able to support its wonderful team of investigators, collaborators and trainees. We invite you to get involved with the SDRC by supporting our efforts to cure diabetes through research partnerships and joining the conversation on innovative diabetes research.
Dr David Maahs, M.D, PhD
Associate Director of the Stanford Diabetes Research Center
Professor, Department of Pediatrics; Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes
Stanford University School of Medicine