Pennington Awarded Five Multi-Year Grants
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Released: Monday, June 23, 2003BATON ROUGE, La.—Five multi-year grants totaling approximately $9.4
million have been awarded for studies by scientists at the Pennington Biomedical
Research
Center.
The grants are as follows:
- $4.4 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for a study to promote healthy weight and fitness in U.S. Army career personnel.
- $1.9 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a Weight Loss Maintenance Trial.
- $1.4 million from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of NIH for a study of the agouti-related protein and its role in human obesity.
- $1.4 million from the NIDDK for studying the regulation of obesity and diabetes by agouti and melanocortins.
- $330,744 from the U.S. Department of Defense for development of cancer therapies through a study of human prostate cancer cells injected into mice.
The study to promote healthy weight and fitness in U.S. Army personnel is
headed
by principal investigator Dr. Donald A. Williamson. Co-investigators for the
four-year study are Drs. Donna Ryan, Pamela Davis Martin, Ray Allen, Tiffany
Stewart and Corby Martin. The primary aims of this research project are (1)
development of a computer-based data collection system for tracking body weight/body
fat and fitness in career soldiers, (2) development of an Internet-based intervention
to promote healthy nutrition and physical fitness and (3) testing the efficacy
of this Internet-based intervention for the prevention of weight gain and promotion
of physical fitness in career soldiers.
The Weight Loss Maintenance Trial is being conducted by principal investigator
Dr.
Phillip J. Brantley, joined by Drs. David Harsha, Catherine Champagne and Betty
Kennedy. The study, funded for four years, focuses on the regain of weight
after initial weight loss. Its purpose is to determine the effects of two innovative
behavioral interventions, each designed to maintain frequent contacts, compared
to a usual-care control group. If the interventions are effective, they should
complement ongoing efforts to stem the obesity epidemic and ultimately prevent
obesity-related cardiovascular disease.
The study of the agouti-related protein (AGRP) and its role in human obesity
is headed by Dr. George Argyropoulos, working with Pennington Center collaborators
Drs. Claude Bouchard, Steven Smith, Jacqueline Stephens and Eric Ravussin.
The five-year study centers on control of food intake by the hypothalamus and
other hormone-secreting organs. When AGRP is overexpressed in animals, they
develop obesity. The scientists will try to find mutations in this gene that
can predispose humans to obesity.
The study of agouti and melanocortins in relation to obesity and diabetes is
funded for five years and is led by Dr. Randall Mynatt. Collaborators are Drs.
Jacqueline Stephens, Steven Smith, Thomas Gettys, Andrey Ptitsyn, Hans-Rudolf
Berthoud and Leslie Kozak. The agouti gene was the first “obesity” gene
cloned, and over the past 10 years the system it regulates has become recognized
as a major regulator of body fat stores. To understand the potential function
of agouti in human fat, Dr. Mynatt has
engineered transgenic mice that produce high levels of agouti in their fat.
The mice become obese and develop type 2 diabetes.
The three-year study to develop a treatment for prostate cancer is headed by
Dr. Carola Leuschner, with Dr. William Hansel serving as a consultant. Laboratory
mice will be inoculated with human prostate cancer cells so that treatment
regimens, treatment efficacies on killing metastases and potential side effects
of drugs can be observed. Membrane-disrupting peptides, which are connected
with hormone ligands, destroy cell membranes only from cells that carry the
receptors for those ligands. This construct ensures highest specificity to
the target cells. These peptides, created in a laboratory, are similar to peptides
found in bee venom.
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The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is at the forefront of medical discovery as it relates to understanding the triggers of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. It is a campus of Louisiana State University and conducts basic, clinical and population research. The research enterprise at Pennington Biomedical includes approximately 80 faculty and more than 25 post-doctoral fellows who comprise a network of 44 laboratories supported by lab technicians, nurses, dietitians, and support personnel, and 13 highly specialized core service facilities. Pennington Biomedical's more than 500 employees perform research activities in state-of-the-art facilities on the 222-acre campus located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
