Currently Funded Pilot & Feasibility Projects

Year	Investigator	Title	Present Position
2019	Ebony Boyce Carter	Diabetes phenotypes in pregnancy	Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
2019	Jing Hughes, MD, PhD	Primary cilia regulation of beta cell function	Assistant Professor, Metabolism & Lipid Research
2019	Alexxai V. Kravitx, PhD	An inflammatory mechanism underlying persistent obesity	Associate Professor, Psychiatry
2019	Kartik Mani, MBBS	Targeting protein aggregation in cardiac myocytes – A novel strategy in diabetic cardiomyopathy	Assistant Professor, Cardiology
2019	Nathan O. Stitzel, MD, PhD	Characterizing the metabolic effects of a novel coronary artery disease gene	Associate Professor, Cardiology
2019	Parker C. Wilson, MD, PhD	Chromatin Conformation and Transcriptional Regulation in Diabetic Nephropathy	Instructor, Pathology and Immunology
2018	Scott Charles Beeman, PhD	Quantifying the primary drivers of the hypoxia-driven insulin resistance mechanism	Assistant Professor, Radiology
2018	Jennifer Powers, PhD	Alternate biomarkers for management of diabetes during pregnancy	Assistant Professor, Metabolism & Lipid Research
2018	Stephen Stone, MD	Modeling FGF21 signaling defects in insulin mediated pseudoacromegaly	Instructor, Pediatrics – Endocrinology
2018	Hani Suleiman, MD, PhD	Role of glomerular basement membrane composition and architecture in diabetic nephropathy	Instructor, Nephrology
2018	Michael D.Thompson, MD, PhD	Targeting Bile Acid Homeostasis In Offspring Exposed To Maternal Obesity	Instructor, Pediatrics – Endocrinology
2017	Amy L. Clark, DO	Defining the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the development of autoimmune diabetes	Instructor, Pediatrics – Endocrinology
2017	Sarah Ann Eisenstein, PhD	Neuroinflammation in obesity	Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
2017	Ali Javaheri, MD, PhD	Targeting cardiomyocyte lysosomal lipolysis to alleviate cardiac complications of diabetes	Research Fellow, Cardiology
2016	Brian DeBosch MD, PhD	Mechanisms of trehalose action in modulating hepatic and extrahepatic metabolism	Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
2016	Subhadra Gunawardana, PhD	Insulin-independent reversal of diabetes with BAT transplants: role of IGF-1	Associate Professor, Cell Biology and Physiology
2016	Lydia-Ann Harris, PhD	A role for FGF21 in the weight loss-independent metabolic effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass	Instructor, Nutritional Sciences
2016	Heather Lawson, PhD	Molecular and functional characterization of brown adipose tissue expansion in high fat-fed SM/J mice	Assistant Professor, Genetics
2016	Rithwick Rajagopal, MD, PhD	Fenofibrate mitigates diabetic retinopathy through peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor-alpha	Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology & Visual Science
2016	Rachel Tabak, PhD	Objective physical activity in a worksite intervention to reduce obesity and diabetes	Assistant Professor, Prevention Research Center
2015	Jeffrey R. Millman, PhD	Improved differentiation of human stem cells to beta cells with oxygen control	Assistant Professor, Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research
2015	Babak Razani, MD, PhD	Use of a novel sugar to treat obesity and diabetes	Assistant Professor, Cardiology
2015	Dmitri Samovski, PhD	Regulation of insulin and AMPK signaling by saturated fatty acids	Instructor, Nutritional Sciences
2015	Mohamed Zayed, MD, PhD	N-Acetyl-Cysteine for healing of amputation stumps in the setting of diabetes	Assistant Professor, Surgery

Shared National Resource Consortium

University of Kentucky Current DRC Pilot and Feasibility Projects

Year	Investigator	Title	Present Position
2018	Julie S. Pendergast, PhD	How the liver tells time on high-fat diet: pathway to obesity	Assistant Professor, Biology
2018	Preetha Shridas, PhD	Serum amyloid A- a novel mediator of adipose-tissue inflammation and insulin resistance	Assistant Professor, Endocrinology
2017	Ana Bastos de Carvalho, MD	Optimizing implementation of diabetic retinopathy telescreening: a pilot study	Instructor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
2016	Brian Finlin, PhD	Regulation of pancreatic beta cell mass by adipose lipoprotein lipase	Assistant Professor, Endocrinology, University of Kentucky

University of Utah Current DRC Pilot and Feasibility Projects

Year	Investigator	Title	Present Position
2018	Katsuhiko Funai,PhD	Phospholipid origin of NASH	Assistant Professor, Molecular Medicine & Physical Therapy
2018	Santhosh Karanth, MS, PhD	A small molecule screen to discover inhibitors of Hepatic FOXN3 activity	Assistant Professor, Nutrition and Integrative Physiology
2017	Bhagirath Chaurasia, PhD, MSc	Role of Fgf13 and Bmp3 in regulating adipose tissue browning/beiging	Assistant Professor, Nutrition and Integrative Physiology
2017	Yu Kuei Lin, MD	Amitriptyline in improving hypoglycemia recognition and course	Assistant Professor, Endocrinology
2016	Sihem Boudina, PhD	Hyperinsulinemia suppresses cardiac autophagy through activation of IGF-1 receptor signaling	Assistant Professor, Nutrition, University of Utah

University of Wisconsin Current DRC Pilot and Feasibility Projects

Year	Investigator	Title	Present Position
2018	Chi-Liang Eric Yen, PhD	Intestinal lipid metabolism, gut microbiome, and pancreatic islets	Associate Professor, Nutritional Sciences
2018	Martin Zanni, PhD	Developing a transgenic mouse model for amyloid oligomers thought responsible  for beta-cell toxicity	Professor, Chemistry
2017	Barak Blum, PhD	Robo receptors control the organization and function of the islets of Langerhans	Assistant Professor, Cell and Regenerative Biology
2017	Dudley W. Lamming, PhD	Role of Fgf13 and Bmp3 in regulating adipose tissue browning/beiging	Assistant Professor, Medicine and Public Health