David D'Alessio, MD, chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition, and his colleagues have partnered with peers across North Carolina to win NIH funding for an important new effort to advance our knowledge of the prevention and treatment of diabetes.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases will award Duke, Wake Forest School of Medicine, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill a prestigious Diabetes Research Center grant of $5 million over five years.
One of only 15 such centers in the US, the North Carolina Diabetes Research Center (NCDRC) will provide investigators—both established in or new to diabetes research—with access to powerful research technologies to enhance the impact of their work, as well as to connecting investigators with collaborators, both at intra- and inter-institutional levels, to expand the scope of their projects.
The NCDRC will provide educational programs and pilot grants for diabetes research. The grant also supports research infrastructure, including facilities for performing genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies. The NCDRC will hold an annual Diabetes Research Symposium in Greensboro for investigators from all four campuses.
Principal investigators of the grant are Don McClain, MD, PhD (WF), David D'Alessio MD (Duke), Elimelda Ongeri PhD (NC A&T), and John Buse MD, PhD (UNC-CH).