JDRF announces 2008 Scholar Award ...( August 1 2008 New York NY - JDRF sai...)

August 1, 2008, New York, NY - JDRF said today that it has recognized the work of two top diabetes researchers who are focused on accelerating the pace of science in understanding the autoimmune attack that causes type 1 diabetes, and on preventing or reversing the severe complications of this chronic and life-threatening disease.

The recipients of the third annual Scholar Award are Dr. Jeffrey A. Bluestone, Director of the Diabetes Center at the University of California in San Francisco and Dr. Mark E. Cooper, Director of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia. The most prestigious distinction offered by JDRF, the Scholar Award provides recipients with $250,000 annually for up to five years for their specialized research.

The Scholar Award is granted to individual scientists with a track record of conducting pioneering, creative research and a commitment to conducting transformative research to finding a cure for diabetes and its complications.

"We are thrilled to name Dr. Bluestone and Dr. Cooper as recipients of JDRF's Scholar Award. They both exhibit a unique creative vision and approach to research that will accelerate the JDRF mission," said Dr. Richard Insel, Executive Vice President of Research for JDRF. "We depend on the creativity and excellence of our scientists to continue to accelerate the pace of research leading to a cure."

Dr. Bluestone, who has a long-term commitment to the field of autoimmunity and immune intolerance, received the award for his project, "Role of MicroRNAs in T cell function in Type 1 diabetes." The Scholar Award will allow Dr. Bluestone to explore the function of MicroRNA in regulatory T cells, which are critical for the prevention and control of autoimmune diabetes. MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules that can change gene expression by controlling whether certain proteins can be produced or not.

JDRF funds research to study the genetic and environme
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