all Joslin Diabetes Center stories

Joslin study identifies protein that produces ‘good’ fat; finding may lead to ways to treat, prevent obesity

404132862 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:01:29 -0400

A study by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center has shown that a protein known for its role in inducing bone growth can also help promote the development of brown fat, a “good” fat that helps in the expenditure of energy and plays a role in fighting obesity.

“Obesity is occurring at epidemic rates in the U.S. and worldwide and that impacts the risk and prognosis of many diseases,” said Yu-Hua Tseng, Ph.D. an Assistant Investigator in the Joslin Section on Obesity and Hormone Action and lead author of the paper published in the August 21 issue of Nature. “We hope this study can be translated into applications to help treat or prevent obesity.”

GlaxoSmithKline and Harvard Stem Cell Institute announce major collaboration agreement

404132862 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:00:05 -0400

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) today announced that they have entered into a five-year, $25 million-plus collaborative agreement to build a unique alliance in stem cell science to hasten the development of treatments and cures for a range of diseases.

Stem cells used to treat muscular dystrophy in mice

404132862 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:45:11 -0400

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have for the first time demonstrated that transplanted muscle stem cells can both improve muscle function in mice with a form of muscular dystrophy and replenish the stem cell population for use in the repair of future muscle injuries.

Amy Wagers - focusing on stem cell biology

404132862 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:45:39 -0400

Twenty minutes after her weekly lab meeting is scheduled to begin, Amy Wagers rushes into a conference room on the fourth floor of the Joslin Diabetes Center, where her lab team sits, chatting around a long oval table.

“Sorry I’m late,” she calls out, closing the door behind her. “Oh good, the food’s here!"

Grabbing half a sandwich and a pickle off a catered tray, she simultaneously grabs a seat and motions for her team to begin its presentations. Lights out.

In the darkened room, all eyes turn to the illuminated white screen. There, in all its monochromic splendor, glows an enlarged image of a blood-forming hematopoietic stem cell.

NIH awards Harvard Medical School $117.5 million, five-year grant for patient-centered research

404132862 — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:42:32 -0400

The National Institutes of Health today announced that Harvard Medical School (HMS) will receive $117.5 million over the next five years for the establishment of a Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) that will transform patient-oriented, laboratory-to-bedside research at HMS and its affiliated hospitals.

Restricting insulin doses increases mortality risk

yvette — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:42:59 -0500

A new study led by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center has found that women with type 1 diabetes who reported taking less insulin than prescribed had a three-fold increased risk of death and higher rates of disease complications than those who did not skip needed insulin shots. The new research appears in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

Joslin-led study IDs genes key to regulation of body weight

50443248 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:48:26 -0400

A new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has further illuminated the role of genes in regulating body weight and fat distribution. Because obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, identifying genes that affect this condition holds promise for the detection of individuals at risk, as well as for potential prevention and treatment methods. The study was presented on June 25 at the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) 67th Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

Study shows different insulin signaling components control glucose and lipid metabolism in the liver

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:27:20 -0400

Insulin uses two distinct mechanisms to control glucose and the metabolism of blood fats (lipids) in the liver, a new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has discovered. Failures in each of these networks can lead to serious health problems: the breakdown of glucose metabolism that can lead to type 2 diabetes, and the malfunction of lipid metabolism contributing to metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions that puts people at increased risk of heart disease, vascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The new study, led by C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., and Cullen Taniguchi, M.D., Ph.D., of Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and their colleagues, is published in the May 2006 edition of Cell Metabolism. The findings open the door to the development of new treatments that one day may target directly the conditions that contribute to type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. "Patients with the metabolic syndrome have high levels of both glucose and lipids in the blood. We now understand that insulin that controls the pathways that control glucose levels are different from those that regulate lipid levels. By targeting these specific pathways, we might be able to improve problems with glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism or both," says Kahn, president of Joslin Diabetes Center and Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Study provides first physiological evidence that insulin is critical for blood vessel formation

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:24:49 -0400

For people with type 2 diabetes, the death rate from a first heart attack is two to three times the death rate of patients without the disease. Similarly, patients with diabetes and ischemic (reduced blood flow) heart disease have a much higher mortality rate than the general population.

Internet discussion group provides an inspiring, supportive 'oasis' for people with diabetes, Joslin study shows

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:42:36 -0400

A study that appears in the November/December 2005 issue of The Diabetes Educator examined the impact of Joslin's Online Discussion Boards - forums in which people with diabetes can find information and share thoughts and experiences on specific diabetes issues.

Established in 1998, the free service on Joslin's Web site (http:// www.joslin.org/) allows people from around the world to log on and post questions or comments about their diabetes-related concerns. The postings are moderated by a team of Joslin specialists, including physicians, nurse educators, dietitians, psychologists and exercise physiologists, all of whom can offer important perspectives about diabetes care.

"There's a strong therapeutic effect from posting on the board," says the study's lead investigator, John F. Zrebiec, M.S.W., C.D.E., a clinical social worker at Joslin and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. "Diabetes can be a lonely disease," he says. While face-to-face support groups can help remedy isolation, for many people coming into a new group can be a "very anxiety-provoking experience," Zrebiec says. "Entering a group via the Internet can feel much less threatening and gives people an opportunity to talk about themselves in a much more anonymous way."

For the study, Zrebiec, who runs several of the discussion boards, tracked more than 330,000 visits to the discussion boards over a period of six years. In 1999 and again in 2004, computer-based customer satisfaction surveys were e-mailed directly to some of the board's registered users.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents to the study's 2004 survey rated participation in the discussion board as having a positive effect on coping with diabetes. As one woman commented, "I have found an oasis where I can be encouraged, inspired and educated by people who sincerely understand my struggles."

What's more, 71 percent of respondents stated participation helped them to feel more hopeful. One user, a representative of many, found the discussion board to be an online lifeline. "Here in Spain, I have no support," she commented. "I honestly don't know what I would do without the support I find here. It really has transformed my life and had a positive influence on the way I cope with diabetes."

High blood glucose levels in early pregnancy may deprive embryo of oxygen

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:22:16 -0400

Research appearing in the October 2005 issue of the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism suggests that high blood glucose levels early in pregnancy deprive the embryo of oxygen, interfering with its development.

"Until recently, it was not understood how diabetic pregnancy could cause birth defects. My laboratory wanted to explore this research because the more we know about the effects of the mother's diabetes on the embryo, the more tools we have to identify therapies that may prevent birth defects in diabetic pregnancy," said the study's lead investigator, Mary R. Loeken, an investigator in Joslin's Section on Developmental and Stem Cell Biology and assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Study shows new compound may reduce risk of vision loss in patients with diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:21:31 -0400

The PKC-Diabetic Retinopathy Study (DRS) was designed to evaluate the safety and effect of an oral treatment, RBX, on retinopathy progression or visual loss in patients with moderately severe to very severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy. In the study, patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes received either RBX or a placebo over three to four years. The study measured the effect of three orally administered doses of RBX on progression of diabetic retinopathy, moderate visual loss and sustained moderate visual loss. The study was conducted at Joslin Diabetes Center and assorted national and international medical centers.

The oral treatment RBX inhibits the activity of the enzyme protein kinase C. PKC is essential to the normal production of energy in the body, but one form of the enzyme - PKC-beta - has been linked to diabetic complications of the eye and other parts of the body. Thus RBX was designed to be selective for the single PKC-beta isoform.

"Our results demonstrate that although RBX did not prevent progression to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, it may reduce the risk of moderate vision loss caused by macular edema," said study chairman Lloyd Paul Aiello, M.D., Ph.D., head of Joslin's section on eye research, director of Joslin's Beetham Eye Institute and associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

'Brown fat' cells hold clues for possible obesity treatments

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:19:49 -0400

In laboratory studies of mouse cells, the research team identified genes that govern how precursor cells give rise to mature brown fat cells. There are two main types of fat cells in the body- white, designed to store energy for use in times of need, and brown, which burn energy and generate heat, leading scientists to believe that finding ways to encourage the development of brown fat might be good for treating obesity. In previous research, the scientists were among the first to develop cell lines of precursor cells that give rise to brown fat cells.

Insulin prods development of type 1 diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:21:37 -0400

Joslin Diabetes Center researchers Diane Mathis's and Christophe Benoist's finding that the lymph node draining the pancreas was intrinsic to the autoimmune response in mice made David Hafler, HMS professor of neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, wonder if something similar was happening in people.

Research in brief

50443248 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:33:15 -0400

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have found genetic regions that, when defective, allow the immune system to attack the pancreas - the first in a series of mis-steps that lead to type 1 diabetes. Armed with these findings, published March 22 in the journal Immunity, the researchers are now trying to home in on the exact genes involved, in mice and in human patients.