UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO
Grant: $19,656 - National Institutes of Health - Jul. 13, 2009
No votes have been cast for this award yet
Join the conversation: Post a comment about this award
Award Description: NIDDK Summer Research Experience Supplement to DK063070: Undergraduate Student Exiperiential Learning in Adipocyte Biology and Nutrition Research provides additional funding to support 1 summer undergraduate student for two summers to help accelerate the progress of the parent award. This administrative supplement (3R01DK063070-07S) was submitted in response to NIH Notice (NOT-OD-09-060) for an ARRA Administrative Supplement Providing Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Educators. The parent grant associated with this request is 5R01DK063070-07 entitled ?Antiobesity Mechanism of CLA Isomer in Human Adipocytes?. Funds were requested to hire an undergraduate student majoring in biology, chemistry, or nutrition to conduct research in the area of adipose biology and nutrition over two summers (2009, 2010). The objective of this summer supplement is to 1) provide the student with a ?hands on? research experience related to the development or treatment of obesity and its metabolic complications, and 2) accelerate the progress of the parent R01 grant. Specifically, the student will be assigned to work on one of the three specific aims of the parent grant. As a result of this mentoring, the student will have 1) developed critical thinking skills appropriate for scientific inquiry, 2) developed a research question and formulated a hypothesis based on published scientific literature 3) designed and executed a controlled experiment, including the selection of appropriate controls, 4) learned cell culture and molecular tool skills, 5) interpreted experimental data and presented them in manuscript form, 6) acquired writing skills appropriate for publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentations in the PI?s lab group meetings and 7) become familiar with the names of leaders in the field of obesity. The outcomes of this experiential learning experience are anticipated to increase the likelihood that the student will pursue a research career in health-related sciences, based on the previous 20 undergraduates mentored by the PI. Research conducted by the student is also expected to help accelerate the progress of the parent grant towards determining the mechanism by trans-10, cis-12 (10,12) conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) delipidates human adipocytes. Therefore, the Summer Supplement is expected to 1) promote job creation by hiring an undergraduate student, 2) provide an undergraduate student with one-on-one mentoring for conducting research in the area of adipocyte biology and nutrition, and 3) accelerate the pace and achievements of the parent grant; i.e., discover the mechanism by which 10,12 CLA delipidates human adipocytes.
Project Description: Ms. Shruthi Shyamasundar, the 2009 summer student, conducted experiments in our lab under the supervision of a doctoral student (K. Martinez) and the PI (M. McIntosh). The purpose of her research was to determine a potential mechanism by with CLA increased intracellular calcium levels, which we have previously showed contribute to adipocyte delipidation. Shruthi?s data show that the diacylglycerol kinase (DAGK) inhibitor R59022 prevents 10,12 CLA from increasing intracellular calcium levels, inducing inflammatory gene expression, and suppressing adipogenic genes that leads to insulin resistance. These data are important, because they suggest that CLA increases inflammation by enhancing DAG phosporylation to phosphatidic acid, a known inducer of intracellular calcium levels. Thus, these data have accelerated our progress towards discovering the upstream mechanism by which CLA, a dietary ingredient and supplement used for weight loss worldwide, delipidates human adipocytes. During her summer research experience, Shruthi learned the following research tool skills 1) growing and differentiating primary human adipocytes, 2) isolating RNA, making cDNA, and conducting qPCR, 3) immunoblotting, 4) measuring glucose uptake using 2-[3H]-deoxyglucose, and 4) measuring intracellular calcium release. Ms. Shyamasundar also learned how to 1) design a research experiment based on a research question, including having the proper controls, 2) conduct statistical analyses of her data, 3) and presenting her data to our research group at weekly lab meetings. Shruthi became more knowledgeable about how nutrients impact gene expression, protein activation, and metabolism. She will continue to work with my lab group this academic year as an undergraduate research assistant, and obtain more research experience as a future medical student. This research has also accelerated our progress towards discovery the mechanism by which CLA delipidates human adipocytes.
Jobs Summary: This award created 1 new undergraduate student research position during 3 summer months of 2009 and 2010. (Total jobs reported: 1)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jul. 13, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
No comments have been added for this project.