University researchers recently received a three-year, $1.8 million planning grant as part of the National Institutes of Health’s new Roadmap for Medical Research initiative.
The project will bring together researchers from 13 departments at the University and from elsewhere in Missouri to develop a plan for an Exploratory Center for Interdisciplinary Research focused on the cardiovascular effects of metabolic disorders such as diabetes.
About 65 percent of people with diabetes die of heart- and circulation-related complications, yet standard cardiovascular therapies are not always effective.
It will take an army of experts to understand and help resolve such a complex medical challenge, according to University researchers.
“With these new exploratory centers, we hope to remove roadblocks to collaboration so that a true meeting of minds can take place that will broaden the scope of investigation, yield fresh and possibly unexpected insights, and create solutions to biomedical problems that have not been solved using traditional, disciplinary approaches,” said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D, NIH director.
Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, said the University shares the NIH’s vision of advancing medical science by fostering interdisciplinary programs.
“This grant is a testament to our faculty’s successful application of that philosophy in cardiovascular, diabetes and obesity research and is a critical step in launching a broad-based crossdisciplinary center,” he said.
The School of Medicine will supplement the grant by investing additional funding in pilot projects and by providing infrastructure and resources through BioMed 21, the school’s strategic initiative to rapidly bring advances in basic science to the patient’s bedside.
“This project is one example of how BioMed 21 will attack complex biomedical problems through interdisciplinary teams of scientists who think outside the box and rapidly move things forward,” said the project’s principal investigator, Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., professor of medicine, of molecular biology and pharmacology and of pediatrics. “Type 2 diabetes is an alarming problem in the United States, and we are very excited to have the opportunity to work with the NIH on a plan for a center dedicated to this critical health-care issue.”
The initiative will focus on the cardiovascular complications of type 2 diabetes and a precursor to diabetes called metabolic syndrome. The body’s metabolism changes in metabolic syndrome. Both conditions are associated with obesity and a variety of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure and triglycerides.
Developing a plan to accelerate basic discovery research and the clinical implementation of findings from these studies are the two cornerstones of the center that will be planned in the next three years.
After the planning phase is complete, the group will submit a follow-up proposal for the center.
Kelly said the ultimate goal is to develop a panel of tests that can be used to diagnose cardiovascular conditions in people with diabetes and help determine the best course of treatment.
His team has partnered with experts in Kansas City, Mo., led by John A. Spertus, M.D., director of outcomes research for Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute and a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Spertus and scientists at Yale University recently established a Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Consortium, pooling the resources and patient populations of 16 clinical research institutions, including Washington University, to expedite and enhance the transition from laboratory findings to clinical advances.
“Washington University is very strong in fundamental research and in small patient trials,” Kelly said. “By partnering with Spertus’ team and with the clinical research consortium, we now have the prime testing ground for our basic-science discoveries.”