The UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center is comprised of faculty members conducting basic, translational, and clinical research related to diabetes and its complications.

Current areas of research include autoimmune Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, diabetes complications, beta cell biology, oxidative stress, signaling and metabolism as well as diabetes risk factors, epidemiology, intervention studies, outcomes research, and drug discovery.

With funding from national institutes, foundations, and donors, we perform cutting-edge diabetes research, provide comprehensive education and training, and uncover breakthroughs in treatment for those affected by diabetes in our community and beyond. Below is a list of examples of recent key peer-reviewed publications from the UCDC Young Diabetes Principal Investigator group as well as the UCDC director and associate directors.

• Pioglitazone discontinuation in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is associated with disease recurrence. Bril F, Kalavalapalli S, Lomonaco R, Cusi K.Diabetes Obes Metab. 2023 Apr;25(4):1112-1116. doi: 10.1111/dom.14936. Epub 2022 Dec 22.PMID: 36495442 

• Hypercholesterolemia After COVID-19: Time to Include Lipoprotein X Among the Differential Diagnoses. Girard J, Wagner C, Ravi S, Agarwal M, Bril F.AACE Clin Case Rep. 2023 Mar-Apr;9(2):35-38. doi: 10.1016/j.aace.2023.01.001. Epub 2023 Jan 7.PMID: 36643829 

• Impaired Diurnal Pattern of Meal Tolerance and Insulin Sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetes: Implications for Therapy. Yadav Y, Romeres D, Cobelli C, Dalla Man C, Carter R, Basu A, Basu R.Diabetes. 2023 Feb 1;72(2):223-232. doi: 10.2337/db22-0238.PMID: 36346619

• Obesity and Overweight: Probing Causes, Consequences, and Novel Therapeutic Approaches Through the American Heart Association's Strategically Focused Research Network. Clark JM, Garvey WT, Niswender KD, Schmidt AM, Ahima RS, Aleman JO, Battarbee AN, Beckman J, Bennett WL, Brown NJ, Chandler-Laney P, Cox N, Goldberg IJ, Habegger KM, Harper LM, Hasty AH, Hidalgo BA, Kim SF, Locher JL, Luther JM, Maruthur NM, Miller ER, Sevick MA, Wells Q.J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Feb 21;12(4):e027693. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.027693. Epub 2023 Feb 8.PMID: 36752232 

• Lipid Disorders and Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease. Anwar SD, Foster C, Ashraf A.Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2023 Sep;52(3):445-457. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2023.01.003. Epub 2023 Feb 26.PMID: 37495336

• Metabolic Syndrome and Its Association with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis. Bril F, Sanyal A, Cusi K.Clin Liver Dis. 2023 May;27(2):187-210. doi: 10.1016/j.cld.2023.01.002. Epub 2023 Feb 26.PMID: 37024202 Review.

• A New Index of Insulin Sensitivity from Glucose Sensor and Insulin Pump Data: In Silico and In Vivo Validation in Youths with Type 1 Diabetes. Schiavon M, Galderisi A, Basu A, Kudva YC, Cengiz E, Dalla Man C.Diabetes Technol Ther. 2023 Apr;25(4):270-278. doi: 10.1089/dia.2022.0397. Epub 2023 Feb 17.PMID: 36648253

• Vitamin A regulates tissue-specific organ remodeling in diet-induced obesity independent of mitochondrial function. Shymotiuk I, Froese N, Werlein C, Naasner L, Szaroszyk M, Kühnel MP, Jonigk DD, Blaner WS, Wende AR, Abel ED, Bauersachs J, Riehle C.Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Feb 20;14:1118751. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1118751. eCollection 2023.PMID: 36891060 

• Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fields of nutrition and obesity: A roadmap to equity in academia. Martin SL, Cardel MI, Carson TL, Hill JO, Stanley T, Grinspoon S, Steger F, Blackman Carr LT, Ashby-Thompson M, Stewart D, Ard J; Nutrition Obesity Research Center Taskforce to Advance the Careers of Researchers from Groups Underrepresented in Academia; Stanford FC.Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 Apr;117(4):659-671. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.02.001. Epub 2023 Mar 10.PMID: 36907515

• An early, reversible cholesterolgenic etiology of diet-induced insulin resistance. Covert JD, Grice BA, Thornburg MG, Kaur M, Ryan AP, Tackett L, Bhamidipati T, Stull ND, Kim T, Habegger KM, McClain DA, Brozinick JT, Elmendorf JS.Mol Metab. 2023 Jun;72:101715. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101715. Epub 2023 Apr 3.PMID: 37019209 

• Adipose Tissue Insulin Resistance Predicts the Severity of Liver Fibrosis in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and NAFLD. Kalavalapalli S, Leiva EG, Lomonaco R, Chi X, Shrestha S, Dillard R, Budd J, Romero JP, Li C, Bril F, Samraj G, Pennington J, Townsend P, Orlando F, Shetty S, Mansour L, Silva-Sombra LR, Bedossa P, Malaty J, Barb D, Gurka MJ, Cusi K.J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023 Apr 13;108(5):1192-1201. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgac660.PMID: 36378995

• Loss of Brain Angiogenesis Inhibitor-3 (BAI3) G-Protein Coupled Receptor in Mice Regulates Adaptive Thermogenesis by Enhancing Energy Expenditure. Alsharif H, Latimer MN, Perez KC, Alexander J, Rahman MM, Challa AK, Kim JA, Ramanadham S, Young M, Bhatnagar S.Metabolites. 2023 May 31;13(6):711. doi: 10.3390/metabo13060711.PMID: 37367869 

• What the BTBR/J mouse has taught us about diabetes and diabetic complications. Keller MP, Hudkins KL, Shalev A, Bhatnagar S, Kebede MA, Merrins MJ, Davis DB, Alpers CE, Kimple ME, Attie AD.iScience. 2023 Jun 7;26(7):107036. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107036. eCollection 2023 Jul 21.PMID: 37360692 

• Semaglutide in NASH-related cirrhosis: too late to the party? Bril F.Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023 Jun;8(6):494-495. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(23)00069-9. Epub 2023 Mar 16.PMID: 36934739 

• Novel Roles for the Transcriptional Repressor E4BP4 in Both Cardiac Physiology and Pathophysiology. Mia S, Sonkar R, Williams L, Latimer MN, Rawnsley DR, Rana S, He J, Dierickx P, Kim T, Xie M, Habegger KM, Kubo M, Zhou L, Thomsen MB, Prabhu SD, Frank SJ, Brookes PS, Lazar MA, Diwan A, Young ME.JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2023 Jun 14;8(9):1141-1156. doi: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2023.03.016. eCollection 2023 Sep.PMID: 37791313 

• Adipose Tissue Dysfunction in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Bril F, Ezeh U, Amiri M, Hatoum S, Pace L, Chen YH, Bertrand F, Gower B, Azziz R.J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023 Jun 17:dgad356. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgad356. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37329216

• Noncanonical Regulation of cAMP-Dependent Insulin Secretion and Its Implications in Type 2 Diabetes. Ramanadham S, Turk J, Bhatnagar S.Compr Physiol. 2023 Jun 26;13(3):5023-5049. doi: 10.1002/cphy.c220031.PMID: 37358504

• Genetic ablation of synaptotagmin-9 alters tomosyn-1 function to increase insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells improving glucose clearance. Rahman MM, Pathak A, Schueler KL, Alsharif H, Michl A, Alexander J, Kim JA, Bhatnagar S.FASEB J. 2023 Aug;37(8):e23075. doi: 10.1096/fj.202300291RR.PMID: 37432648

• The SSBP3 co-regulator is required for glucose homeostasis, pancreatic islet architecture, and beta-cell identity. Toren E, Kepple JD, Coutinho KV, Poole SO, Deeba IM, Pierre TH, Liu Y, Bethea MM, Hunter CS.Mol Metab. 2023 Oct;76:101785. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101785. Epub 2023 Aug 1.PMID: 37536498 

• Best practices in assessing cardiac protein O-GlcNAcylation by immunoblot. Zou L, Zhang D, Ha CM, Wende AR, Chatham JC.Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2023 Oct 1;325(4):H601-H616. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00104.2023. Epub 2023 Aug 4.PMID: 37539459 

• An approach for collaborative development of a federated biomedical knowledge graph-based question-answering system: Question-of-the-Month challenges. Fecho K, Bizon C, Issabekova T, Moxon S, Thessen AE, Abdollahi S, Baranzini SE, Belhu B, Byrd WE, Chung L, Crouse A, Duby MP, Ferguson S, Foksinska A, Forero L, Friedman J, Gardner V, Glusman G, Hadlock J, Hanspers K, Hinderer E, Hobbs C, Hyde G, Huang S, Koslicki D, Mease P, Muller S, Mungall CJ, Ramsey SA, Roach J, Rubin I, Schurman SH, Shalev A, Smith B, Soman K, Stemann S, Su AI, Ta C, Watkins PB, Williams MD, Wu C, Xu CH; Biomedical Data Translator Consortium.J Clin Transl Sci. 2023 Sep 14;7(1):e214. doi: 10.1017/cts.2023.619. eCollection 2023.PMID: 37900350 

• Fatty acid-mediated signaling as a target for developing type 1 diabetes therapies. Díaz Ludovico I, Sarkar S, Elliott E, Virtanen SM, Erlund I, Ramanadham S, Mirmira RG, Metz TO, Nakayasu ES.Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2023 Jul-Dec;27(9):793-806. doi: 10.1080/14728222.2023.2259099. Epub 2023 Sep 14.PMID: 37706269 Review.

• Verapamil Prevents Decline of IGF-I in Subjects With Type 1 Diabetes and Promotes β-Cell IGF-I Signaling. Xu G, Chen J, Lu B, Sethupathy P, Qian WJ, Shalev A.Diabetes. 2023 Oct 1;72(10):1460-1469. doi: 10.2337/db23-0256.PMID: 37494660

• Sustained Increases in Cardiomyocyte Protein O-Linked β-N-Acetylglucosamine Levels Lead to Cardiac Hypertrophy and Reduced Mitochondrial Function Without Systolic Contractile Impairment. Ha CM, Bakshi S, Brahma MK, Potter LA, Chang SF, Sun Z, Benavides GA, He L, Umbarkar P, Zou L, Curfman S, Sunny S, Paterson AJ, Rajasekaran NS, Barnes JW, Zhang J, Lal H, Xie M, Darley-Usmar VM, Chatham JC, Wende AR.J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Oct 3;12(19):e029898. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.123.029898. Epub 2023 Sep 26.PMID: 37750556

• ST6GAL1 sialyltransferase promotes acinar to ductal metaplasia and pancreatic cancer progression. Bhalerao N, Chakraborty A, Marciel MP, Hwang J, Britain CM, Silva AD, Eltoum IE, Jones RB, Alexander KL, Smythies LE, Smith PD, Crossman DK, Crowley MR, Shin B, Harrington LE, Yan Z, Bethea MM, Hunter CS, Klug CA, Buchsbaum DJ, Bellis SL.JCI Insight. 2023 Oct 9;8(19):e161563. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.161563.PMID: 37643018 

• Leptin resistance in children with in utero exposure to maternal obesity and gestational diabetes. Everett AB, Garvey WT, Fernandez JR, Habegger K, Harper LM, Battarbee AN, Martin SL, Moore BA, Fouts AE, Bahorski J, Chandler-Laney PC.Pediatr Obes. 2023 Oct 20:e13081. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.13081. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37859518

• Children and Adolescents with Hybrid Diabetes: A Management Conundrum. Gagnon CA, Schmitt JA, Ashraf AP.Endocr Pract. 2023 Oct 30:S1530-891X(23)00732-2. doi: 10.1016/j.eprac.2023.10.134. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37913926

• In adults with BMI ≥27 kg/m2and type 2 diabetes, adding tirzepatide to a lifestyle intervention increased weight loss at 72 wk. Davidson MB.Ann Intern Med. 2023 Nov 7. doi: 10.7326/J23-0089. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37931265 Garvey WT, Frias JP, Jastreboff AM, et al; SURMOUNT-2 investigators. ...