Diabetes Dateline
Winter 2008

NIDDK News

NIDDK Scientists Receive Presidential Award

Two scientists from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) were honored at a White House ceremony in November for their outstanding scientific leadership in diabetes and kidney disease research.

The presidential award, known as the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), was bestowed upon Alexandra C. McPherron, Ph.D., an NIDDK intramural scientist, and Michelle P. Winn, M.D., an NIDDK grantee, along with 10 other grantees from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). PECASE is the most prestigious award given to young scientists in the United States.

Myostatin and Metabolism

From left, NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P.; Alexandra C. McPherron, Ph.D.; and NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. McPherron, a tenure-track investigator with the NIDDK’s Genetics of Development and Disease Branch, was chosen for research in which she discovered myostatin, a secreted protein produced by skeletal muscle that inhibits muscle growth. Inhibiting myostatin might be therapeutically useful for treating muscle wasting diseases, diabetes, or obesity, according to McPherron.

Through NIDDK research, McPherron is trying to understand the role of myostatin in adult metabolism. “The myostatin protein circulates in the bloodstream so it might act on other tissues, such as adipose, in addition to skeletal muscle,” said McPherron. “We don’t know whether the improvement in glucose metabolism is due purely to the increase in skeletal muscle mass, the loss of circulating myostatin acting on other tissues, or metabolic changes in skeletal muscle, such as becoming more sensitive to insulin.

We are also trying to understand how myostatin regulates the proliferation and differentiation of muscle precursor cells and their incorporation into muscle fibers.”

Familial Kidney Disease

From left, NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P.; NIDDK Hematology Training and Careers Program Director Terry R. Bishop, Ph.D.; Michelle P. Winn, M.D.; and NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. Winn, an assistant professor in the division of nephrology in Duke University’s department of medicine, was recognized for the discovery of TRPC6 as a cause of familial kidney disease. NIDDK-supported genetic studies aim to determine why focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), which causes kidney failure, sometimes runs in families.

“Dr. Winn’s research is important because it has opened a new angle to understanding a disease that we have understood very poorly—and which disproportionately affects African Americans,” said Rebekah Rasooly, NIDDK deputy director for the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases.

FSGS is a common, irreversible process that can result in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome, a condition marked by very high protein levels in the urine; low protein levels in the blood; swelling, especially around the eyes, feet, and hands; and high cholesterol. FSGS often appears as a primary condition, with a propensity to progress to end-stage renal disease. The peak incidence is in adolescence and young adulthood. The familial forms appear more often in younger children. The worst prognosis is observed in African Americans.

“I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am to the NIH and, specifically, to the NIDDK for all they’ve done,” said Winn. “They have fostered my career and been very supportive.”

Winn, who had an NIH K08 award, which provides physicians with up to 5 years of support to pursue research careers, is now in the second year of an R01 grant and will apply for another R01 in February. The R01 research project grant is awarded to eligible institutions on behalf of a principal investigator to support a discrete project related to the investigator’s area of interest and competence.

The PECASE awards, commissioned by President Clinton in 1996, support the continued professional development of awardees, promote careers and foster innovation in science and technology, and recognize the scientific missions of participating agencies. The NIH has funded 129 PECASE recipients since the program’s inception. A list of previous NIH recipients of this prestigious award is available at www.grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/pecase.htm.

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NIH Publication No. 08–4562
March 2008