Current Research Funding & Projects:
- R01 DK110350. The Role of microRNAs in Progressive Renal Decline in Type 1 Diabetes. The goals of this project are to determine the expression profile of the full complement of miRNAs that are differentially expressed early (i.e., prior to the initiation of renal function decline) in type 1 diabetic patients who are at risk for progression to end-stage renal disease using next-generation sequencing technology and to begin investigating the mechanisms by which these miRNAs contribute to disease pathogenesis.
- Miller Diabetes Initiative and Diabetic Complications Consortium. An Integrated ‘Big-Data’ Approach to Accelerate Gene Discovery in Diabetic Kidney Disease. The goal of these studies is to apply an integrative, ‘big-data’ approach to accelerate gene discovery in diabetic kidney disease. Our novel, highly innovative approach will leverage data from the Utah Population Database, electronic health records for 2.1 million individuals in the UPDB, and high-throughput next-generation sequencing technology to identify genes for rapid progression of renal function decline in diabetes, the predominant clinical feature of DKD. This proof-of-concept study will serve as a springboard for further WGS-based gene discovery studies and future studies on the mechanisms of progressive renal decline in diabetes.
- Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc. Whole Genome Sequencing-Based Discovery of Genes for Diabetic Kidney Disease. The goal of this project is to perform whole genome sequencing-based discovery of genes for diabetic kidney disease in families enriched for this disease. As part of this project, we will recruit families with diabetic kidney disease and perform whole genome sequencing in a subset of individuals from prioritized families. Additionally, we will perform genome-wide genotyping of all available members of these families to determine the contribution of genetic variation across the entire genome on diabetic kidney disease.
