The National Institute of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH NIDDK) has renewed their commitment to UCSF Diabetes Center by awarding it the Nutrition Obesity and Research Center (NORC) grant—1 of just 11 academic/medical institutions throughout the US—designed to strengthen, centralize, and accelerate nationwide research in nutritional sciences, metabolic health, and obesity by providing research infrastructure, research services, and enrichment programs.
This intersects will our other federally funded Diabetes Research Center (DRC) award which has integrated islet biology, immunology, and metabolism, making our center one of the few institutions to proudly carry this broad directive for both Type 1 and 2 Diabetes, the latter led by co-directors Christian Vaisse and Suneil Koliwad, whose long partnership, fruitful collaboration, and strong leadership is being recognized.
That both our T1D and T2D research programs are awarded by federal funding is a clear mandate to straddle both sides of diabetes, driving crucial cross-disciplinary breakthroughs. By tackling the full spectrum of diabetes, UCSF Diabetes Center cultivates an unparalleled ecosystem of innovation, leveraging vast multi-faceted patient data, and translating dual-focused laboratory discoveries into comprehensive treatments that improve millions of lives globally.
The alliance between UCSF Diabetes Center at UC Berkeley's Metabolic Biology & Nutrition Graduate Program strategically pairs UC Berkeley’s world-class academic stature with UCSF’s premier infrastructure, expertise, and research facilities. The Nutrition and Obesity Research Center grant lies at the cornerstone of this synergy for UC Berkeley graduate students in metabolic biology, molecular toxicology, and endocrinology to conduct their research and training directly within UCSF laboratories and medical centers.
"Having access to both institutions doubles everything, from academic rigor, core facilities, career opportunity, and in-depth advising," said Alicja Bednarska, a Polish international graduate student at UC Berkeley who grew up in the Netherlands before moving to the US. "I find I have gained a truly unique interdisciplinary perspective that you just can't get at a single campus."