THE CAUSE

"We're on a rapid trajectory towards unraveling complex disease connections. Understanding the intersections of common diseases through team-based strategies offers much promise for expediting new drug candidates and personalized diagnostics."

Daniel P. Kelly, M.D.
Director, Diabetes and Obesity Research Center

We are witnessing an obesity and diabetes pandemic. In the United States alone, over 60% of adults are overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes, which is driven by obesity, has increased nearly 30% in the last decade alone. Children are increasingly obese, and some are beginning to develop insulin resistant forms of diabetes that were rare in children just 10 years ago. Diabetes is often accompanied by an aggressive form of cardiovascular disease and greatly increases the risk of atherosclerosis and heart failure.

The mechanisms linking obesity-related diabetes and its cardiovascular complications are unclear. Understanding these linkages requires an interdisciplinary approach, which is why Sanford-Burnham has established a thematic Center composed of scientists with diverse and complementary expertise including molecular biology, cellular and organismal metabolism, vascular and myocardial biology, physiology, chemistry and structured biology.

The overall mission of Sanford Burnham's Diabetes and Obesity Research Center is to use a multi-disciplinary approach to promote fundamental discovery relevant to obesity-related diabetes and its cardiovascular complications. The specific goals of the Center are:

• Fundamental Discovery to take a collaborative approach to investigate fundamental aspects of metabolism and corresponding links to obesity-related diabetes and heart disease.
• Translational Studies to move discovery toward new paradigms in patient care.
• Technology Platform Development to take drug discovery to a new level by finding the root causes of disease and identifying new treatments.