July 2008 eUpdate
Research News
CAN’T GET ENOUGH AIRE Some may think we are “putting on AIREs” when we say we’re one of the leading centers investigating autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. Let us AIRE out these concerns and share how Maureen Su, MD, PhD and her colleagues are helping to make us an immune tolerance leader – thanks to one special gene. [link to full story]
CLINICAL DEPRESSION VS. DIABETES DISTRESS IN TYPE 2 Lawrence Fisher, PhD of the UCSF Department of Family & Community Medicine has devoted much of his career to understanding how living with diabetes can affect emotions and behavior. It has been well documented that there is a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among patients with diabetes. Patients with both diabetes and depression find it difficult to function, experience greater work loss, and display poorer self-management behavior. Through his research, Dr. Fisher and his colleagues have learned that it is often diabetes-specific distress -- not clinical depression -- that accounts for many of the reported findings. [link to full story]
Clinical News
DIABETES CENTER RECEIVES CIRM DISEASE TEAM PLANNING AWARD Beginning this year, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) plans to support multi-year Disease Team Grants. To encourage planning for these awards, CIRM has created Disease Team Planning Awards that will enable a Principal Investigator to recruit a team and enlist its members to develop the content, management and administration of the proposed disease team. Just recently, we received notification that we are receiving a Disease Team Planning Award -- scoring the highest of all of the applications submitted. The second highest score was given to our close collaborator, Novocell of San Diego, who will be partnering with us on this project. Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone will lead the effort to create this statewide team to take stem cells into the clinic for type 1 diabetes. [media release]
TEACHING CENTER WEBSITE ONLINE Last fall, the Diabetes Teaching Center launched their type 1 website, Diabetes Education Online (DEO). At the first of this month, the website was expanded to include information on type 2 diabetes. Martha Nolte MD and her staff hope the website will be a valuable resource for our UCSF patients and also provide diabetes education and self-management skills to the growing numbers worldwide who have limited access to diabetes specialists. We deeply appreciate the following Bay Area individuals and foundations who underwrote this project: The Joseph Drown Foundation, Robert and Michelle Friend, The Koret Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Elana Weinstein, and Will Weinstein. Their visionary support will help make a difference in the lives of individuals living with diabetes and their loved ones. [view website]
TRANSPLANTATION CELEBRATION AT UCSF As a world leader in the field of organ transplantation, UCSF will celebrate its 45th year of transplantation with a week of exciting workshops, lectures and forums open to the public. UCSF Transplant Week is scheduled for September 22-28 and will feature a special presentation on “Diabetes and Islet Transplantation” to be held on Wednesday, September 24, 5-7 pm, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. Since performing its first kidney transplant in 1964, UCSF has performed transplants on more than 10,000 patients—enough to fill every seat in Davies Symphony Hall more than three times over. Of particular note to those living with diabetes -- the kidney and pancreas programs at UCSF are among the largest in the world. [more]
Notes and News
JDRF SCHOLAR AWARD PRESENTED TO ANOTHER UCSF RESEARCHER When the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) launched their prestigious Scholar Award back in 2006, little did we know that they would recognize all that we have going at UCSF in three consecutive years. Jeffrey Bluestone PhD was recently awarded a 2008 Scholar Award, following in the footsteps of Michael German MD who received this recognition in 2007, and Matthias Hebrok PhD who was presented one of JDRF’s inaugural awards. According to JDRF, each of these awards provide sustained support for individual scientists of extraordinary talent and creativity who pursue pioneering research toward finding a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications. States Richard Insel, JDRF Executive Vice President of Research, “To fulfill its mission and find a cure fast, JDRF depends on the creativity and excellence of individual scientists”. All of us at UCSF are proud that our researchers are among the best and we thank JDRF for their ongoing leadership in funding diabetes research. [media release]
ENDOCRINOLOGY PROGRAM RANKS 4TH IN US NEWS & WORLD REPORT Last week, US News & World Report came out with their annual hospital and program ratings. We are pleased to report that UCSF Medical Center was ranked 7th this year and the UCSF endocrinology program was ranked 4th. Thanks to our faculty and staff who give tirelessly of themselves to improve the quality of life for others. [US News]
Clinical Trials
The Diabetes Center at UCSF is among the premier institutions for clinical trials of emerging therapies in diabetes. Numerous clinical trials in type 1 and 2 diabetes are now underway.
Interested in participating? A sample of our trials currently enrolling patients:
Type 1 Diabetes: HOKT3Y1(Ala-Ala)/Anti-CD3 Intervention Study Seeking volunteers, 8 to 30 years of age, within 12 months of diagnosis [ more ]
Type 1 Diabetes: Teplizumab (HOKT3Y1 (Ala-Ala)) [Protégé Study] Seeking volunteers, 16 to 35 years of age, within 12 weeks of diagnosis [ more ]
Type 1 Diabetes: Oral Insulin Preventative Study Seeking relatives of people with type 1 diabetes from age 3 to age 45 [ more ]
Type 2 Diabetes: Paleolithic-Type Diets and Metabolic Control Seeking volunteers 18 years of age and older with type 2 diabetes [ more ]
Non-Diabetics: Alpha Lipoic Acid and Insulin Resistance Seeking volunteers 20 to 60 years of age [ more ]
Non-Diabetics: Chromium and Insulin Resistance Seeking volunteers 20 to 50 years of age, not exercising regularly, and of normal body weight [ more ]
For more opportunities, visit the Clinical Trials section of our website, or contact Kathleen Fraser, our Clinical Trials Recruitment Coordinator at kfraser@diabetes.ucsf.edu.