We are witnessing an obesity and diabetes pandemic. In the United States alone, over 60% of adults are overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes, which is driven by obesity, has increased nearly 30% in the last decade alone. Children are increasingly obese, and some are beginning to develop insulin resistant forms of diabetes that were rare in children just 10 years ago. Diabetes is often accompanied by an aggressive form of cardiovascular disease and greatly increases the risk of atherosclerosis and heart failure.
The mechanisms linking obesity-related diabetes and its cardiovascular complications are unclear. Understanding these linkages requires an interdisciplinary approach, which is why Sanford-Burnham has established a thematic Center comprised of scientists with diverse and complementary expertise including molecular biology, cellular and organismal metabolism, vascular and myocardial biology, physiology, chemistry and structured biology.
The overall mission of the Sanford-Burnham at Lake Nona Center in Orlando, Florida, is to use a multi-disciplinary approach to promote fundamental discovery relevant to obesity-related diabetes and its cardiovascular complications. The specific goals of the Center are:
- Fundamental Discovery to elucidate the pathophysiology of common metabolic diseases and corresponding cardiovascular complications. Active and planned research activities include (but are not limited to): cellular signaling mechanisms involved in the response to insulin; brain-body “crosstalk”; islet cell biology; transcriptional and epigenetic control of cellular fuel and energy metabolism; genetics of metabolism; neurophysiology of appetite and energy expenditure; adipocyte biology; and systems and NMR approaches to cellular/organ metabolic flux.
In the cardiovascular arena the following areas are emerging: molecular control of mitochondrial biogenesis and function; cardiovascular GPRC signaling; cardiac myocyte signaling/transcription/epigenetics; non-coding RNA in development and physiological adaptation; angiogenesis; and progenitor cell biology.
- Translational Studies to move discovery toward new paradigms in patient care.
- Technology Platform Development to enable our fundamental and translational research objectives.
The Center is supported by an extensive Shared Resources platform across Sanford-Burnham sites, including the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics; Mouse Cardiometabolic Phenotyping Core; Metabolomics Core; Analytical and Functional Genomics; Medicinal Chemistry; and Pharmacology.
The Center will be home to 2 research programs to promote cross-disciplinary research within each area and at their intersection.
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