$169-million diabetes grant puts USF on a global stage
The NIH award will pay for a 10-year study.
By JACOB H. FRIES, Times Staff Writer
Published October 4, 2007
TAMPA - The University of South Florida has received a $169-million federal grant to study juvenile diabetes, an award that effectively thrusts the school to the center of a worldwide effort to understand and eradicate the disease in children.
The National Institutes of Health grant, awarded to a research team led by professor Jeffrey Krischer, is the largest in USF history. It will allow the university to spend the next 10 years tracking thousands of children genetically inclined toward Type 1 diabetes, with the hope of better understanding the environmental factors that ultimately trigger the disease.
"I feel strongly that we now have the sophisticated science and strategy that we might be able to eliminate the disease for the next generation," said Krischer, 60, who is co-chair of the study and a professor of pediatrics at USF Health. "I couldn't think of a better thing to do with my life."
Historically, USF has not ranked high among medical schools receiving NIH grants. In 2003, the university was ranked 102 out of 125 schools.
Recently, it closed in on the top 75, but with this grant, USF should rise close to 50th place in the nation, said Dr. Stephen Klasko, medical school dean and vice president of USF Health.
"What happens at a health center like ours is that once you start getting recognition, then you start to get those Johns Hopkins-like grants," Klasko said. "I think the NIH is basically saying, 'We like the work you're doing,' and rewarding it."
USF made the announcement on Wednesday, shortly before university president Judy Genshaft gave a State of the University speech and touted the grant.
"We're absolutely proud that we're doing such cutting edge research, and this is a global study, which is all about what we're involved in as well," Genshaft told the audience, which included Krischer.
Last year, USF received a $20-million federal grant that enabled researchers to begin the study. The new grant will fund the work for the next decade.
The plan is to screen about 360,000 newborns in Europe and the United States, find those genetically at risk of developing diabetes and track about 8,000 of them. Eventually, researchers will compare the children who get the disease against those who don't, looking for differences in their lifestyles, diet, illnesses and other factors.
Researchers also hope to figure out why the incidence of juvenile diabetes has doubled since the 1980s.
"This is really the first major study to try to answer those questions definitively," Krischer said.
In Type 1 diabetes, the body can't make insulin because cells in the pancreas are destroyed. The body needs insulin to keep blood sugar levels stable. It increases a person's risk for many serious complications, including heart disease and blindness.
More common is Type 2 diabetes, which is often brought on by inactivity and weight gain rather than a malfunctioning immune system.
If researchers can better understand what sparks Type 1 diabetes, they may also gain insight into other autoimmune diseases, including Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, Krischer said.
"If we can learn something about the immune system, how it reacts to environmental exposure and genetics, then we may be able to treat it," he said.
At the very least, Krischer said, the major grant helps generate buzz for the work being done at USF, which, in turn, will draw more researchers to the university. But with all that money comes pressure.
"To be given this ability, to try to make an impact ... that's a great responsibility," he said.
Times staff writer Rodney Thrash and researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Jacob H. Fries can be reached at jfries@sptimes.com or 727 893-8872.