LSUHSC student awarded top national honor for diabete...( New Orleans LA Sharell Bindom a stu...)

New Orleans, LA Sharell Bindom, a student in the MD/PhD program at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, will be awarded the Mead Johnson Research Award in Endocrinology and Metabolism by the American Physiological Society at the 2009 Experimental Biology Meeting April 18-22 in New Orleans. This award, which includes a check for $500, is intended to recognize the graduate student, resident, or postdoctoral fellow who presents the best abstract for research in the area of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Experimental Biology Meeting. She works in the laboratory of Eric Lazartigues, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans.

Bindom's abstract is entitled, "ACE2 gene therapy leads to Ang-(1-7)-mediated restoration of glucose metabolism in diabetic mice." She will present it on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 242 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The research team previously demonstrated that glucose tolerance and fasting blood glucose levels in diabetic mice were improved when the pancreas overproduced Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) 2. They hypothesized that the improvement in glucose stability could be achieved by enhancing pancreatic beta cell function. Beta cells are located in islet cell clusters throughout the pancreas. Diabetes mellitus type 1 results from the destruction or dysfunction of islets and their beta cells. Type 2 diabetes results from the body's inability to use insulin properly and a gradual decrease in the pancreas's ability to make it.

Through a series of experiments, the LSUHSC research team found that ACE2 gene therapy improves pancreatic beta cell function and restores glucose stability by increasing the activity of a peptide called Angiotensin (1-7), or Ang (1-7).

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