Thursday, May 21, 2015
E. Dale Abel, director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, has been awarded two grants totaling $4 million from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to study the connection between diabetes, obesity, and heart failure.
Diabetes increases the risk for heart failure by up to six-fold. Obesity also increases the risk of developing heart failure. Abel and his colleagues will investigate the biological mechanisms that drive this increased risk.
Working in collaboration with Kevin Xiang at the University of California Davis, Abel's team will study the connection between high levels of insulin, a common feature of type 2 diabetes, and heart failure.