The Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine at Public Health has awarded $300,000 through its New Investigator Program.
The awards, each $100,000 over two years, support early-career investigators who are taking innovative approaches to address a diverse range of public health issues in Wisconsin.
Biomolecular chemistry professor Matthew Merrins won one of the awards for his project titled “Reprogramming β-cell Metabolism to Prevent and Rescue Type 2 Diabetes.”
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Wisconsin is rapidly climbing, imposing a significant burden on the health care system. The clinical manifestation of diabetes is attributed to the failure of insulin secretion from pancreatic β (beta) cells.
This project proposes that activating a metabolic enzyme, pyruvate kinase, has the potential to prevent diabetes and rescue insulin secretion from the diabetic β-cell. The studies are needed to provide a firm scientific basis for a clinical intervention that preserves β-cell metabolic health in people.
To read more about this grant, see the link below.