Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research

To promote extramural basic and clinical biomedical research that improves the understanding of the mechanisms underlying disease and leads to improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetes, digestive, and kidney diseases. NIDDK programmatic areas include diabetes, digestive, endocrine, hematologic, liver, metabolic, nephrologic, nutrition, obesity, and urologic diseases. Specific programs areas of interest include: (a) For diabetes, endocrine, and metabolic diseases: Fundamental and clinical studies on etiology, pathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of diabetes mellitus and its complications; Normal and abnormal function of the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and other hormone secreting glands; Hormonal regulation of bone, adipose tissue, and liver; fundamental aspects of signal transduction, including action of hormones, coregulators, and chromatin remodeling proteins; Hormone biosynthesis, secretion, metabolism, and binding; hormonal regulation of gene expression and the role(s) of selective receptor modulators as partial agonists/antagonists of hormone action; Fundamental studies relevant to metabolic disorders including membrane structure, function, and transport phenomena and enzyme biosynthesis; basic and clinical studies on etiology, pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of inherited metabolic disorders (e.g. cystic fibrosis). (b) For digestive disease and nutrition: Genetics and genomics of the GI tract and its diseases; Genetics and genomics of liver/pancreas and diseases; Genetics and genomics of nutrition and obesity; Bariatric surgery; Clinical nutrition and obesity research; Liver disease complications; Fatty liver disease; Genetic liver disease; HIV and liver; Cell injury, repair, fibrosis and inflammation in the liver; Liver cancer; Liver transplantation; Pediatric liver disease; Viral hepatitis and infectious diseases; Gastrointestinal and nutrition effects of AIDS; Gastrointestinal mucosal and immunology; Gastrointestinal motility; Basic neurogastroenterology; Gastrointestinal development; Gastrointestinal epithelial biology; Gastrointestinal inflammation; Digestive diseases epidemiology and data systems; Nutritional epidemiology and data systems; Autoimmune liver disease; Bile, Bilirubin and cholestasis; Bioengineering and biotechnology related to digestive diseases, liver, nutrition and obesity; Liver cell and molecular biology; Developmental biology and regeneration; Drug-induced liver disease; Gallbladder disease and biliary diseases; Exocrine pancreas biology and diseases; Gastrointestinal neuroendocrinology; Gastrointestinal transport and absorption; Nutrient metabolism; Pediatric clinical obesity; Digestive diseases clinical trials; Liver clinical trials; Obesity prevention and treatment; Obesity and eating disorders. (c) For kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases: Kidney cell biology, development, physiology, and pathophysiology studies; Genetics of kidney disorders; Immune mechanisms of kidney disease; Kidney disease as a complication of diabetes; Effects of drugs, nephrotoxins and environmental toxins on the kidney; Mechanisms of kidney injury repair; Improved diagnosis, prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease; Improved approaches to maintenance dialysis therapies; Basic studies of lower urinary tract cell biology, development, physiology, and pathophysiology; Clinical studies of bladder dysfunction, incontinence, pyelonephritis, interstitial cystitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, urolithiasis, and vesicoureteral reflux; Development of novel diagnostic tools and improved therapies, including tissue engineering strategies for urologic disorders; Research on hematopoietic cell differentiation; metabolism of iron overload and deficiency; Structure, biosynthesis and genetic regulation of hemoglobin; Research on etiology, pathogenesis, and therapeutic modalities for the anemia of inflammation and chronic diseases.