Joslin receives $3 Million to study obesity

BOSTON—Joslin Diabetes Center has received a three-year, $3 million grant from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation to help fund studies that will investigate the underlying causes of obesity and insulin resistance. The donation is one of the largest in Joslin’s history.

“Joslin is incredibly grateful that the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation has chosen to support this important research,” said Ranch C. Kimball, president and CEO of Joslin Diabetes Center. “The generosity of philanthropic foundations is critical to Joslin’s mission and research efforts in the fight against the global diabetes pandemic which affects more than 200 million people worldwide.”

Diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome are major predisposing risk factors for many common disorders, including diabetes, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. The goal of the research will be to identify the genetic and hormonal triggers of these conditions to help design new approaches to treat and prevent them.

“This grant will allow Joslin to approach obesity from a completely new direction,” said C. Ronald Kahn, MD, Head of the Joslin Section on Obesity and Hormone Action.

“Instead of looking at how much a person eats and their amount of physical activity, we will be looking at the fat cell itself and studying how genes and hormones regulate obesity and diabetes," lead investigator of the study Mary K. Iacocca said. "Furthermore, we’ll be investigating how things progress starting from before birth and through adulthood.”

The multidimensional approach includes scientists from several Joslin research sections who will examine the origins of obesity and insulin resistance at the cellular level, including the role inflammation plays in these conditions, the influences of intrauterine and early nutrition and new ways to image fat mass and function.

“Given Lilly’s strong diabetes heritage, we’re very pleased to have this opportunity to fund such innovative and valuable research,” said David E. Moller MD, Vice President, Endocrine and Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Investigation, Lilly Research Laboratories. “We believe this important basic research program will help advance the field’s efforts to better understand the underlying causes of obesity and its relationship to diabetes.”

Tackling diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome are important and complex. Essential to the development of new treatments for these disorders is defining their underlying mechanisms and identifying new targets for therapy. A few of the scientific questions the Joslin team hopes to answer are: how does fat develop; how to protect against the negative affects of fat; and how can the balance of good and bad fat be altered.