Immunology

Columbia University Medical Center has honored Philipp E. Scherer, PhD, with the 15th Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Research in Diabetes, for his work that helped usher in a new understanding of fat and its role in diabetes and other metabolic diseases. His discovery of adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat, helped transform the scientific concept of fat as an inert storage depot to one of it as an endocrine "organ" that exerts control over the brain, muscles, and other organs. The award, given annually by CUMC's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, is Columbia's top honor for excellence in diabetes research.

"Dr. Scherer's work in diabetes research has always ranked among the most creative in the field," said Rudolph L. Leibel, MD, the Christopher J. Murphy Professor of Diabetes Research, co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at CUMC, and chair of the selection committee. "His comprehensive analysis of fat tissue physiology has helped to elucidate the molecular basis for the relationship of obesity to insulin resistance, diabetes, and, metabolic syndrome; it helped to launch studies of the role of fat in inflammation and cancer."

Dr. Scherer's studies of adiponectin revealed the hormone's potent anti-diabetes effects: blocking glucose production in the liver and improving insulin sensitivity in muscle. Because adiponectin levels fall as fatness levels rise, drugs that increase adiponectin may be effective in fighting diabetes and other consequences of obesity.

More recently, Dr. Scherer helped establish that obesity itself is not the direct cause of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, but rather is initially protective by directing excess lipid away from critical tissues such as muscle and liver. In a conceptual leap, he showed that expansion of "healthy fat" tissue in mouse models can maintain metabolic health.

Dr. Scherer is professor of internal medicine, holds the Gifford O. Touchstone Jr. and Randolph G. Touchstone Distinguished Chair in Diabetes Research, and is director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research, at UT Southwestern Medical Center, located in Dallas. His work on the physiology of the adipocyte, cells that store energy as fat, has been reported in more than 280 publications, some of which have been cited more than 1,000 times.

With his award, Dr. Scherer will receive $130,000 to provide a two-year research fellowship for a student or research fellow in his laboratory. Dr. Scherer has selected Risheng Jeff Ye, PhD, for this support. Dr. Ye will further define the role of adipocyte-derived factors, in particular the specific role of adiponectin, in the regeneration of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in the context of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Naomi Berrie Fellow in Diabetes Research Award

Deniz Atalayer, PhD, and Nichole Danzl, PhD, MPhil, are to share the 2013 Naomi Berrie Fellow Award, an award given annually to support a junior diabetes investigator(s) at CUMC. They will share a $130,000 award.

Dr. Atalayer is a postdoctoral fellow studying the regulation of body weight. Previous research has shown that blocking certain opioid receptors in the brain prevents weight gain in rodents but the same approach in humans has shown only limited success. Dr. Atalayer plans to study opioid regulation of key hypothalamic POMC and AgRP neurons, which inhibit and stimulate food intake respectively, in order to understand how this system can be more effectively manipulated in response to opioid antagonists to improve weight loss. She is a postdoctoral research scientist in the laboratory of Sharon L. Wardlaw, MD, the Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professor of Obesity Research (in Medicine).

Dr. Danzl's research is aimed at elucidating the intrinsic immunologic defects that promote the development of type 1 diabetes. In the past, such studies have relied on analysis of cells from patients who have already developed the disease, leaving unclear which defects cause disease and which are a consequence of disease. With a new mouse model that contains the human immune system of the human donor, Dr. Danzl plans to identify the defects in immune regulation that contribute to type 1 diabetes. Her aim is to use this personalized immune mouse model to find new treatment strategies for people with type 1 diabetes. Dr. Danzl is a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Megan Sykes, MD, the Michael J. Friedlander Professor of Medicine, professor of microbiology & immunology and of surgical sciences (in surgery), and director of the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology.