Leaders of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at The University of Iowa today announced they have awarded the Center's first round of research grants to fund innovative pilot projects by young investigators.

A total of 24 researchers from across the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine submitted proposals. The four selected applicants will receive $50,000 to conduct their research, with a potential second year of a funding for a possible total of $100,000 over a two-year period.

The goal of the program is to generate data that will enable the researchers to compete for peer-reviewed national funding for projects that show exceptional promise.

The recipients include:

--Anne Kwitek, Ph.D., to study how a high-fat diet alters the expression of genes that contribute to the metabolic syndrome.

--Andrew Norris, M.D., Ph.D, to devise an experimental system that allows him to define the metabolic factors in a diabetic mother that predispose to the development of the disease in her offspring.

--Kamal Rahmouni, Ph.D., to study how the mechanisms involved in insulin signaling affect glucose homeostasis and diabetes.

--Leonid Zingman, M.D., to study how newly discovered muscle protein signals energy mobilization from adipose tissue during exercise.

These pilot project research grants are supported by gifts from The Fraternal Order of Eagles, which in 2008 made a five-year, $25 million pledge to the UI Foundation for a UI diabetes research center, now named for the Eagles organization. The UI acknowledges the UI Foundation as the preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the UI Foundation, visit its website at https://www.foriowa.org/.