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USF Professor Nets $128 Million For Diabetes Research

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 31, 2008

TAMPA - A prominent diabetes researcher at the University of South Florida landed another multimillion-dollar grant and ensured that nearly every major effort to eliminate the disease will be orchestrated in Tampa.

Jeffrey Krischer, who previously won USF nearly $200 million in federal grants to coordinate worldwide diabetes research, will lead a new effort to investigate new therapies that may arrest the progression of Type 1 diabetes. The National Institutes of Health has awarded his team another $128 million to do so.

The new award "will catapult USF to the top 50 for NIH funding to medical schools," said Stephen Klasko, USF's senior vice president for health sciences.

Last year, Krischer received a $169 million NIH grant to identify the environmental triggers of Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes. It was largest research award ever.

For that study, scientists at clinics worldwide will follow 8,000 children for up to 15 years to see how diet, infections and other factors play a role in the disease.

The new study, known as TrialNet, will seek to screen more than 150,000 children and adults to identify those with early signs of diabetes. If researchers find the new therapies prove successful, they will see how the therapies can yield new prevention strategies.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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