BOSTON AREA DIABETES ENDOCRINOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER

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OVERALL DESCRIPTION (Taken directly from the application) The Boston Area Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center (BADERC) is a consortium of laboratory-based and clinical investigators whose efforts are directed toward addressing many of the major research questions bearing on the etiology, pathogenesis, treatment and cure of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and their associated microvascular and atherosclerotic complications. The Center Director (Dr. Joseph Avruch) and Associates Directors (Drs. Joel F. Habener and Brian Seed) are highly productive senior investigators of international stature in signal transduction, gene expression, molecular biology, and immunology, topics central to advances in diabetes research. The participating scientists are based at a large number of Boston-area research institutions, including the major Harvard Medical School-affiliated teaching hospitals (the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center) and Harvard-affiliated research institutions (the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, School of Public Health, the Scheppens Eye Research Institute, and Boston Biomedical Research Institute), the Boston University Medical Center, the New England Medical Center, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These investigators are working at the cutting edge of fields most relevant to defining the pathogenesis and optimal treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes: the molecular and genetic basis of insulin action and insulin resistance, the biology of the vascular system and islet of Langerhans, the immunologic basis and optimal therapies for autoimmunity and transplant rejection, and the development of new methods for glycemic monitoring and control. The BADERC offers these scientists an array of core support services (Molecular Biology, Cell Biology/Morphology, Transgenics, Gene Knockouts, Radioimmunoassay and Monoclonal Antibody Generation, Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorting, and Metabolic Physiology) that incorporate the latest technical advances in molecular genetics, cell biology, and metabolic physiology provided by acknowledged experts. Most cores are heavily oriented toward hands-on training. The BADERC will also sponsor several symposia each year, focused on the topics outlined above, and a program of pilot and feasibility grants. It is expected that the easy access to cost-effective support services of outstanding quality together with the educational and pilot grants program will serve to catalyze many new collaborations, and attract to diabetes research new talent from this outstanding scientific community. Finally, it is a goal of the center to foster the closest interactions between the laboratory based and clinical scientists, so as to ensure the translation of research discoveries into advances in the care of diabetic patients.