• Metabolic Medicine
• Genetics, Innate Immunity and Complications of Diabetes
• Nutrigenomics/Metabolic Health 
• Cardiometabolic Health 
• Resolution of Atherosclerosis
• Cell Matrix and Organ Repair
• Clinical Nephrology
• Bariatric Surgery
• Cancer/Obesity
• Social Sciences

Over the past decade we have applied differential gene expression technologies to identify novel genes expressed in in vitro and in vivo models of diabetic nephropathy [DN] and, importantly, in human renal tissue. Current efforts focus on mining these datasets and probing the regulation of expression and actions of specific molecules. We have identified novel roles for molecules such as the BMP antagonist Gremlin, induced by high glucose-1, IHG-1, a protein that amplifies fibrotic responses in the context of DN and Connective Tissue Growth Factor, a growth factor which drives scarring in the kidney and other organs.

As part of an international consortium with investigators at Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) we have used genome wide association studies to identify genetic polymorphisms linked to DN, which will help understand the genetic susceptibility to this devastating condition. We have explored the potential of the anti-inflammatory eicosanoid lipoxin to promote resolution and inhibit pathologic responses in models of disease. Thus, we have identified factors that may influence progression of DN and are potential targets for novel therapies including IHG-1, CTGF and Gremlin which exacerbate renal injury and protective lipid mediators such as lipoxins which are protective. These agents target distinct cell types and processes and may also implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy.

We have further characterised these and related modulators in order to define the molecular mechanisms underlying DN. Our access to human samples including blood, urine and renal biopsy materials facilitates our efforts to identify those targets most relevant to human disease. In 2012 noteworthy achievements for DCRC investigators included Prof le Roux’s highly prestigious President of Ireland Young Researcher Award, NIH funding for the Diabetes Complications Consortium, EU Marie Curie Outgoing fellowship award to Dr Emma Borgeson to UC San Diego. Investigators were invited to make presentations at several important international conferences including the Keystone Conference on Diabetic Complications (USA), the International Society for Nephrology Conference on Systems Biology of the Kidney (USA), and the International Society for Nephrology Conference on Tubulointerstial Fibrosis (Australia).