Medical College of Wisconsin: Receives grant to develop integrative approach to the genetic study of Type 1 diabetes

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The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a four-year, $1.12 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to develop an integrative genomics approach to the genetic study of type 1 diabetes.

Xujing Wang, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, is principal investigator of the study, which is a collaboration with Children’s Research Institute, the College’s Human and Molecular Genetics Center, and the Max McGee National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

The project aims to mathematically model disease dynamics and the genetic pathways and networks that are relevant to the regulation of the key traits of the disease. This will lead to the identification and prioritization of candidate disease genes.

“This represents a new approach to the genetic study of complex human disease,” said Dr. Wang. “It is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary. We are happy that the funding agency is supportive of our ideas, and we are grateful to the generous support from the Children’s Research Institute and the McGee family over the last several years to generate the preliminary work for the application of this grant.”

Faculty members who are co-investigators on the study include: Soumitra Ghosh, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Max McGee National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes; Martin Hessner, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics; and Tao Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of biostatistics.