diabetes

Non-exercise physical activity has a measurable energy expenditure, which goes down when animals engage in voluntary exercise, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Vanderbilt investigators and colleagues around the country have made a major discovery that could lead to better ways to treat type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered how insulin crosses the capillary endothelium to exit blood vessels and stimulate skeletal muscle cells — a major finding that may lead to new ways to reverse insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes.

Research achievement was recognized recently during Diabetes Day at the Student Life Center. Among those honored were (beginning second from left) Bryan Gitschlag, Danielle Dean, PhD, Ian Williams, Caroline Presley, MD, and Suzanne Starr. Award winners are flanked by Tom Elasy, MD, MPH, (left) and Alvin Powers, MD. Diabetes Day was sponsored by the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center and the Vanderbilt Center for Diabetes Translation Research and supported by the National Institutes of Health.

When 32-year-old Dana Shaw was diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during her pregnancy with her first child, she was happy to learn she could meet with a physician about the condition through video conferencing rather than taking time off from work for an appointment.

The use of human pancreatic islets to conduct diabetes-related research has greatly expanded in recent years, and a Human Islet Phenotyping Program (HIPP) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been established to provide important islet data to investigators worldwide.

Potassium channels in a cellular organelle regulate calcium flux and appear to play a critical role in pancreatic beta cell health.