| "The exciting clinical opportunities we see today are a reflection of the much deeper understanding of our immune system that has been generated by fundamental research discoveries. Often overlooked are the basic discoveries that reveal central processes at work in diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. It is this basic scientific research that continues to be the engine that drives our progress towards eliminating diabetes." - Dr. Jeffrey A. Bluestone in a speech to the US Senate, 1999 |
Basic science is essentially research whose purpose is to generate understanding. In many ways, it is a very pure science, with no immediate goals to produce new technologies, or develop new therapeutics. But, in the end, all breakthroughs in human medicine begin in the same place - with basic research.
At the Diabetes Center at UCSF, our desire for understanding is fueled by our ambition to conquer diabetes, once and for all. This philosophy is reflected in the way we work - basic researchers and clinical staff work closely, so that new knowledge generated in the lab will rapidly become new hope in the clinic. Because diabetes is a complex disease, basic research into diabetes at UCSF spans dozens of disciplines. Endocrinologists, molecular and cellular biologists, immunologists, statisticians and even computer scientists, among others, are all represented among Diabetes Center researchers. Some are capitalizing on the results of the Human Genome project, peering deep inside the human genetic code hunting for the reasons why diabetes develops and searching for clues to its vulnerabilities. Others are immersed in the larger world of human immune cells, slowly decoding their strange and complex language of chemicals and proteins with which they communicate, and sometimes, miscommunicate. Still others combine these efforts, seeking to understand how certain genes ultimately control the function, and dysfunction of cells. Some of our key basic research strengths include research programs that are investigating:
- how T cells target and attack islet cells response in type 1 diabetes
- genes controlling obesity and contribute to type 2 diabetes
- transgenic mouse models to investigate beta cell regeneration
- autoantigens that are targetted in autoimmune diabetes
- signaling pathways in beta cell development
- how obesity can alters molecular pathways of insulin utilization
- the mechanisms of immune tolerance in autoimmunity and transplantation
