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“Type 2 diabetes has a complex pathogenesis and can be difficult to understand,” said Stephens. “There are literally hundreds of different reasons – many still unknown – that people develop the disease, which is different than Huntington’s Disease, for example, in which case every affected person has the same gene mutation, which makes studying the detection and pathogenesis easier.” Stephens’ research focuses on trying to determine different ways that Type 2 diabetes is caused. Her research group has already discovered several different ways that Type 2 diabetes can develop by changing metabolism in fat cells. “There’s an exceptionally strong connection between obesity and Type 2 diabetes,” she said. “Most obese people do not have Type 2 diabetes; however, most Type 2 diabetic patients are obese. It’s a perplexing research situation that we and other researchers around the globe continue to study.” Stephens and her research team have a different approach than most other diabetes research groups because they study the pathogenesis at the molecular level and focus on the STAT 5 protein. These proteins can act as “master regulator” within cells because they control the production and expression of other proteins. When she started these studies in 1996, she was the only one in the world studying STAT 5 proteins and their role in the development of Type 2 diabetes. Today, she’s still one of approximately six groups, and only two of those are in the United States whose research is focused on STAT 5 and fat cell metabolism. “The STAT 5 proteins can be difficult to study because we still don’t know all the genes they regulate,” she said. “But, learning more about the protein means that we’re learning more about all the genes that can be regulated by STAT 5.” Stephens said that there are three main research targets for the grant renewal:
The grant, which was renewed in an extremely competitive process that is often more difficult than the initial review, will support an additional five years of Stephens’ research. But that doesn’t mean that the work will end then. “This is a huge undertaking. It’s definitely what I would consider an ongoing project,” said Stephens. “I do not foresee an end in next five years, but we will definitely continue with the research until our questions are answered.” -30- |
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