News & Events

Dr. Vincenzo Cirulli and Dr. Laura Crisa (Department of Medicine), together with Dr. Marta Scatena (Department of Bioengineering) have been awarded a Research Award totaling $1,000,000 from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation entitled “Decoding microenvironmental signals promoting beta cell differentiation”. The objective of this multi-Investigator research effort is to reconstruct an in vitro micro-environmental niche that mimics in vivo-like conditions capable of eliciting stem cell maturation toward the pancreatic islet cell lineage.

Dr. Michael Schwartz (MTE) has received a 5-year, $4 million award from the Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) under its 2010 Program Grant Competition. The grant will support the Diabetes-Stem Cell Program (DSCP), a multi-institutional collaborative effort whose overarching goal is to unite expertise in stem cell biology with that in developmental biology of pancreatic beta cells, basic and clinical aspects of diabetes, implantation biology, and immunology in a joint scientific endeavor.

Dr. Michael Schwartz (MTE) has been awarded an American Diabetes Association Mentor-Based Postdoctoral Fellowship Award for his application entitled “Hypothalamic Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Obesity and Diabetes” This ADA Program supports the training of scientists in an environment most conducive to beginning a career in diabetes research. The 4-year award is given to established and active investigators in diabetes research for the annual stipend support of a postdoctoral fellow to work closely with the mentor.

JAY HEINECKE (MTE) is the author of an editorial in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, “HDL and Cardiovascular-Disease Risk — Time for a New Approach?” He discusses the

Dr. Savitha Subramanian (MTE) is the recipient of the WAFMR Outstanding Investigator Award for the 2011 Western Regional Meeting to be held January 26-29, 2011 in Carmel, California. This award is given to an investigator who has demonstrated an outstanding career in scientific investigation evidenced by the quality of their submitted scientific abstract and their initial career contributions to their scientific field, based on an outstanding track record of high quality publications and grant funding.

Dr. Vincenzo Cirulli (MTE) has been awarded a $20,000 equipment grant from the Seattle Foundation.  The purpose of this grant is to purchase a FACSCalibur 4-color flow cytometer system for

Dr. Joshua Thaler (MTE) has been awarded a Beginning Grant-in-Aid Award from the American Heart Association entitled “The Role of CNS Inflammation in Insulin Resistance and Diabetes”. This two-year project focuses on the potential contribution of high-fat diet-induced inflammation in the hypothalamus on susceptibility to insulin resistance.

Dr. Vincenzo Cirulli (MTE) has been awarded a Basic Science Award from the American Diabetes Association entitled “Adhesive and migratory cues for islet cells”. This three-year project focuses on the function of a neural protein named Slit-2 that his team has found to be expressed in the developing pancreas, and that appears to function as a migratory cue for pancreatic ductal cells marked by the expression of the progenitor marker Sox9.

Chongren Tang, MD PhD, an Acting Assistant Professor in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition was awarded a four- year AHA Scientist Develpoment Grant for his proposal entitled “Mechanisms

Dr. Michael Schwartz (MTE) has been awarded an NIH R01 for his proposal entitled “Hypothalamic Inflammation and Energy Homeostasis.”  This research focuses on the brain’s role in high-fat diet-induced weight