Diabetes Prevention Phenotyping Core

ABSTRACT- DIABETES PREVENTION PHENOTYPING CORE The Diabetes Prevention Phenotyping Core (DPPC) within the University of Kentucky Diabetes Prevention COBRE (UK-DPC) is a specialized human and rodent experimental facility that will offer critical infrastructure and technical support to empower junior faculty members and the broader University of Kentucky diabetes prevention research community for project success. The DPPC will supply comprehensive design and support for diabetes prevention research projects by offering seasoned expertise in experimental design, execution, and results interpretation for addressing research questions in whole organisms and biological samples from both human subjects and rodents. The DPPC will also pilot and establish new techniques in diabetes prevention research to facilitate the adoption of new technologies. The DPPC will be unique on campus because of its commitment to offering services, techniques, and specialized equipment that are not currently available within the institution. These include dedicated personnel and space for human and rodent metabolic clamp measurements, human tissue biopsies, clinical coordination, pancreatic islet isolation from rodents, and training in basic methods of rodent metabolic characterization and clinical research concepts. These capabilities will foster technical and conceptual independence of junior investigators and grow our base of researchers answering important questions in diabetes prevention through state-of-the art approaches coupled with technological innovation. The support services offered by the DPPC are tailored to address the specific requirements of the proposed research project leader’s (RPL) scientific projects, and to offer support for expected projects of future RPL and pilot project leader (PPL) studies in diabetes prevention. These services have been strategically aligned to seamlessly integrate with and complement the research activities in UK-DPC laboratories and beyond. The DPPC will also serve as a pivotal recruitment tool for junior faculty candidates and RPLs as the first cohort of RPLs and PPLs transition to independent funding. The DPPC will encourage junior investigators to enhance their studies in pre-clinical models with complementary human subjects' research by lowering the barrier of entry into translational research study design and methodologies. We expect the long-term impact of the DPPC will be to substantially enhance the competitiveness of applications for extramural funding while establishing the University of Kentucky as a technological leader in diabetes prevention research.