News and Developments

New Space for the DERC and its Members

In 2003, the DERC and its Core laboratories were consolidated in The Anlyan Center for Biomedical Research (or TAC), a new 450,000 sq ft $200 million research building, greatly improving the operation of the DERC by centralizing and improving its laboratory facilities, and equally important, physically concentrating most DERC members under one roof, thus creating new opportunities for collaborative research.

In addition, Yale is constructing a new 110,000 sq ft facility, the Amistad building, a block from TAC to house 3 interdisciplinary programs directly relevant to the DERC, the Program in Vascular Biology and Transplantation (VBT); the new program in Human and Translational Immunology (or HTI); and new the Stem Cell Research Center.

Recruitment of Dr. Kevan Herold

In the spring of 2006, the HTI program was initiated with the recruitment Kevan Herold, MD who is at the forefront of research testing new immune therapies to prevent and treat type1 diabetes. HTI is currently recruiting additional faculty which we anticipate will greatly expand our basic research and clinical trials in autoimmune diabetes and lead to a training program in Translational Immunology. Dr. Herold undoubtedly will be a major user of the new DERC Clinical Translational Core.

Creation of a Unique Humanized Diabetes Mouse Model

Dr. Flavell is the recipient a $17 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a "humanized" mouse model with a functional human immune system in which novel therapies in diseases such as diabetes can be tested. The technologies involved in this project also provide other benefits for the DERC. For example, the the DERC Molecular Core is working with Dr. Flavell use of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones to transfer enormous genomic segments into mouse ES cells, obviating the need for laborious vector construction and greatly increasing the efficiency of homologous recombination.

Establishment of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI)

To integrate clinical and translational research and training, the "Yale Center for Clinical Investigation" (YCCI) was established in 2006 under the direction of Dr. Sherwin with the recent funding of a CTSA (P.I. Dr. Sherwin) as well as University support. The DERC will benefit from YCCI, in a variety of ways.

Career Development

YCCI offers a Ph.D. degree in Health Sciences Research to a select group of physician scientists embarking on careers in translational or clinical research. It is likely that the program will have a significant impact on DERC research given that one half of the program's faculty mentors, selected based on their achievements and experience in translational research are DERC members.

Pilot and Feasibility Funding

YCCI will use CTSA funds ($700,000) to support a large number of pilot projects, providing the DERC with opportunities to partner with YCCI to support additional diabetes P&F grants that have a clinical translation goal.

Expanding Support of Human-based Metabolic/Diabetes Studies by Partnering with YCCI

An important goal of YCCI is to enhance the use of technological resources by encouraging and supporting collaboration among NIH-supported centers. An example of how the DERC and YCCI will collaborate is in the support of clinical and translational research. This will be accomplished in 2 ways.

There has been a substantial increase the number of complex metabolic studies performed in humans by DERC investigators both in the Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC) and within the hospital at a variety of sites (e.g. the intensive care units). To facilitate this research the DERC will leverage funds from the CTSA and the JDRF Center for the Study of Hypoglycemia to create a YCCI/DERC Clinical Translation Core for diabetes research composed of trained nurses, research assistants, and blood-processing technologists. The unit will service a variety of projects conducted throughout the Hospital and Medical School.

Another the way the DERC will leverage the newly established YCCI will be through the availability of its Office of Research Services (ORS), headed by Drs. Tamborlane and Gulanski (both DERC members). ORS will offer DERC members and their trainees help for protocol development, IRB submissions, patient recruitment and scheduling, preparation of case report forms, data management and analysis, and cost-effective utilization of nurse coordinators, freeing investigators of many of the burdens of conducting clinical research. It is anticipated that this new CTSA-funded infrastructure created will greatly enhance the DERC's ability translate clinical research into practice. The DERC will partner with the YCCI to hire a recruiter for studies that are specifically diabetes related.

Clustering of YCCI Research Cores to Enhance DERC-Related Education

YCCI will help DERC members and trainees make optimal use of Yale's extensive core resources for diabetes research in areas such as: (1) imaging; (2) human specimen analysis; (3) cognition research; (4) drug development; and (5) cell and gene therapy.

Combining Genomics, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiologic Resources

YCCI will have an integrated infrastructure combining Yale's existing strengths in genomics (Keck Biotechnology Laboratory), bioinformatics (Yale Center for Medical Informatics), and biostatistics and epidemiology (School of Public Health) to assist DERC members who hope to identify and characterize genes associated with pathogenesis and complications of diabetes, determine the profiles of gene expression in tissues, create databases, and study the prevalence and consequences of mutations in diabetes patient cohorts.