The Baltimore DRTC will consist of six core laboratories:
- Cell Biology
- Integrated Physiology
- Transgenic/Embryonic stem cell
- Genetics
- Clinical Investigation
- Prevention & Control
Mehboob Hussain, MD - Director
Susan Fried, PhD – Co-Director
The Cell Biology Core will serve as a resource for basic and clinical investigators to study the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus as related to changes in the endocrine pancreas, adipose, hepatic, and skeletal muscle tissue.
Cell Biology Core objectives:
• Maintain stocks of cultured pancreatic endocrine islet, adipocyte, muscle and hepatocyte cell lines and advice and training in their utility for diabetes research
• Provide users with training in preparation of primary islet, adipocytes, muscle and hepatocytes from human subjects and experimental models of diabetes and their use for analysis of insulin secretion, action and metabolism
• Provide access to and training in histological immuno-histochemical and microscopic methods for analysis of primary cells and cell lines relevant to diabetes research
Services to be offered:
General methods
• Provide users with basic training in cell culture methods
• Maintain cultured cell lines needed by users and develop optimized methods when needed for new projects
• Provide users with advice, training and optimized protocols for transfection and siRNA
Islet cell biology
• Provide mouse and rat pancreatic islets from normal and experimental animals.
• Provide training in isolation and culture of pancreatic islets from rodents.
• Maintain cell lines, such as INS-1, INS-1- 832/13, MIN6, betaTC-3, betaTC-6, alphaTC-6, HIT-T15
• Provide service and training in methods for studying insulin synthesis and secretion using
perifused islet and beta cells
Adipose cell biology
• Provide cultures of 3T3-L1 cells and frozen low passage cells
• Provide advice and training in primary culture of rat and human preadipocytes
• Provide training in primary culture of rat and human adipocytes
• Provide training in organ culture of rodent and human adipose tissue
• Provide training in isolation and analysis of adipocyte metabolic (lipolysis, lipogenesis) and
secretory/endocrine function
• Provide measurements of fat cell size and number and advice and training in adipose
morphology methods
Hepatocvte and muscle cell biology
• Maintain stocks of HepG2, FAO, AML12 and C2C12 cells for distribution and advice on their use for studies of insulin action and lipid metabolism
• Provide low passage primary cultures of human vastus lateralis muscle and training in methods of culture
• Set up methods for the isolation and culture of hepatocytes from rodents and human samples
• Immunohistochemistry
• Provide service and training in methods for immuno-histochemical analysis of liver, muscle and adipose tissue
• Provide service and training in methods for immuno-histochemical analysis of islets and insulinsecreting cells
Andrew Wolfe, PhD - Director
Gabriele Ronnett, PhD - Co-Director
The Integrated Physiology Core will offer to provide service and expertise for a variety of metabolic and endocrine assays, physiological paradigms and monitoring to center investigators. The overall goal in providing this service is to facilitate and enhance studies that seek to understand the physiological consequences of cellular and molecular changes incurred with diabetes and its attendant disorders.
The Integrated Physiology Core objectives:
• Enhance the cost effectiveness of a variety of metabolic and hormone assay for center investigators
• Make available assay procedures that would be impractical or not feasible for center investigators to perform in their own laboratory
• Develop new techniques or protocols to enhance the projects of center investigators
• Function seamlessly with the Transgenics/ES Core in the analysis of newly developed animal models
• Coordinate with the Cell Biology Core for ligand assay purposes
The Core will perform and will give access to and/or train and assist investigators with the following procedures:
• Assays of mouse physiology and behavior
• Ligand assay measurements of hormones and metabolic substrates
• Assessments of glucose
• Animal imaging of body composition and substrate use
TRANSGENIC/EMBRYONIC STEM CELL CORE
Frederic Wondisford, MD - Director
Sally Radovick, MD - Co-Director
The aim of the Transgenic/ES Cell Core will be to accelerate research programs that depend on the development of genetically altered mouse models, including transgenics, knock-outs, knock-ins, and inducible knock-outs. The goal of the Transgenic/ES Cell core is to enable Baltimore DRTC investigators to efficiently generate genetically altered mice including transgenic, knock-out or knock-in mouse models.
The Transgenic/ES Cell Core objectives:
• Provide advice and guidance in the use of transgenic, knock-out and knock-in mice for diabetes and diabetes-related research
• Generate transgenic mouse strains
• Generate gene knock-out and knock-in mouse strains
• Provide embryo freezing and storage capabilities for Investigators
Braxton Mitchell, PhD - Director
Da-Wei Gong, MD, PhD - Co-Director
Kristi Silver, MD – Co-Director
The purpose of the Genetics Core will be to provide services and support for basic science and clinical investigators that will enhance our understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of diabetes and its complications. A greater mechanistic understanding will lead to more effective prevention and treatment of diabetes. To this end, the objective of the Genetics Core is to provide services in the areas of molecular genetics, functional genomics, viral vectors, and genetic epidemiology services.
The Genetics Core service areas:
• Molecular genetics
• Functional genomics
• Viral vectors
• Genetic epidemiology
Andrew Goldberg, MD - Director
Alan Shuldiner, MD - Director
The DRTC Clinical Investigation Core (CIC) will serve as the central resource to facilitate the conduct of clinical investigation in diabetes and predisposing associated conditions. It will offer a wide range of state-of-the-art diabetes- and obesity-, and CVD-related clinical research tests and assessments, as well as diet, exercise, and pharmacological interventions to probe mechanisms of disease. CIC leaders will provide consultation and training to DRTC investigators and guidance/mentoring for young investigators in the design and implementation of clinical investigative approaches in T2DM.
Clinical Investigation Core objectives:
• Offer standardized state-of-the-art assessments of glucose and fat metabolism, insulin sensitivity, p-cell function, body composition/fat distribution, energy homeostasis, cardiovascular, and functional capacity
• Perform DRTC-investigator initiated intervention studies, including diet/weight loss (WL), exercise, and pharmacological
• Provide consultation and guidance to investigators in the application of clinical physiology, body composition, and metabolic measurements
• Engage basic science DRTC investigators in multidisciplinary patient-oriented research
• Engage investigators outside the field of diabetes in interdisciplinary research
• provide an educational resource for all DRTC investigators, and training opportunities for junior faculty, fellows and students
• Develop a DRTC Research Subject Registry with the Control and Prevention Core
• Maintain a tissue bank consisting of DNA, RNA, leukocytes, body fluids, and fat and muscle tissue from well-characterized subjects
Frederick Brancati, MD, MHS - Director
Christopher Saudek, MD - Co-Director
The over-arching mission of the Prevention & Control Core is to understand and reduce health disparities in type 2 diabetes and its complications by facilitating research in the following areas: (1) epidemiology, (2) health services research; (3) outcomes research; and (4) real-world trials of primary and secondary prevention.
Service areas have been organized among the following five sub-cores:
• Biostatistics
• Data Management & Analyses
• Cognition & Behavior
• Recruitment & Retention
• Informatics
Visit the Prevention & Control Core Website for more detailed information about Core objectives and available services.
The Prevention & Control Core has developed a service request process that can be accessed here or by contacting Frederick Brancati at 410-955-9843.
