Yale researchers have partnered with investigators at leading research institutions in Connecticut, and with a prestigious counterpart in Israel, to fill a research void in the field of metabolic diseases, which affect billions of people worldwide.
The goal of the Metabolic Research Alliance is to leverage expertise at Yale, University of Connecticut, and The Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science to advance research projects that will swiftly move investigations into clinical application and commercialization.
Obesity and diabetes are two major metabolic disorders that will be the focus of this collaborative effort. The World Health Organization estimates that at least a half billion people worldwide suffer from obesity, and more than 350 million individuals are diagnosed with diabetes.
“The goal of this Connecticut-based collaborative research initiative developed in partnership with a major Israel-based research institution is to make new discoveries and develop new therapies that prevent or improve care for people with obesity and diabetes. We are excited about the potential for synergy by creating new partnerships with scientists having diverse and unique skills to tackle these important health problems.” said Dr. Robert Sherwin, chief of the Endocrinology Section at Yale School of Medicine.
The Metabolic Research Alliance will coordinate existing and new expertise in the areas of human physiology, immunology, cell biology, neuroscience, microbiota, and the rapidly evolving field of genomics. While investigations will initially focus on obesity and diabetes, the research projects will also pursue solutions to other metabolic diseases.
Even before the formation of the alliance, the institutions had begun to collaborate on research, including a study by Yale and UConn that found gut bacteria differ between obese and lean youth, and another out of the Weizmann Institute about a Personalized Nutrition Project.
Learn more about prospective alliance projects here.