News & Research

    Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Insulin determines developmental organization of hypothalamic circuits

General Research Subject: Gestational Diabetes

Focus: Insulin Action\Signal Transduction

Type of Grant: Mentor Based Postdoctoral Fellowship

Project Start Date: July 1, 2008

Project End Date: June 30, 2012

Research Description

Type II diabetes has been called the plague of the 21st century. Emerging data suggest that overfeeding during pregnancy can have a long lasting influence on the child that can lead to the development of diabetes later in life. It is not known what the factors are during pregnancy that bring about these long lasting changes in the offspring. Our research focuses on this critical issue and will test specific hypotheses to develop therapeutic strategies to diminish the impact of perinatal events on diabetes development.

Reseacher Profile

Mentor: Tamas L. Horvath, DVM, PhD   Postdoctoral Fellow: Beatrix Sarman, MD, PhD

What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?

The project aims to determine the critical role of insulin in the development of altered brain circuitry during pregnancy of an obese subject. These studies have implications for the increased development of childhood obesity and type II diabetes.

If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?

Our research will determine how difficult it may be for an individual to correct their symptoms with life-style and behavioral adjustments.

Why is it important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play in your research efforts?

My education and research training lead to the discovery of specific brain mechanisms that regulate tissue function associated with diabetes. For me, it is essential that my basic research work is translated to knowledge for human conditions.

In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?

We would like to gain a deeper understanding of how the brain contributes to the development of type II diabetes.