The UW Medicine Diabetes Institute (UWMDI) is the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, integrating state-of-the-art research programs with superb care for patients with diabetes, obesity and their complications
The UWMDI occupies 3 floors of the new UW Medicine South Lake Union 3.2 facility, and it creates a synergistic environment for advancing therapeutic breakthroughs by housing basic science, clinical care and translational research under one roof.
Dr Michael Schwartz is the founding Director of the UWMDI, and his research focus on the Neuroscience of Metabolism has advanced our understanding of how the brain, in cooperation with the pancreas (where insulin is made) and other organs, controls metabolism within the body.
Revealed by this ongoing research is the key role played by the brain to establish the biologically defended levels of both our body’s fuel stores (in the form of fat) and fuel available for immediate use (in the form of circulating glucose). From this vantage point, it is not surprising to learn that both obesity and its closely related disorder, type 2 diabetes, involve impairment of these central control systems.
This conceptual advance predicts that the brain can be targeted to treat both disorders, particularly if the pancreas is targeted as well. It is this precise approach – targeting receptors in both brain and pancreas – that makes newer drugs such as Ozempic, Weygovy and Mounjaro so effective.
These breakthrough drugs have not only transformed the treatment of obesity as well as type 2 diabetes, they have produced another important but less well appreciated benefit – the creation of a scientific infrastructure upon which research into the neuroscience of metabolism can lead to new therapeutic breakthroughs. By identifying the specific neurocircuits, neuronal cell types and signaling molecules that are engaged by these drugs, new approaches are being created that are more effective, more durable, and with fewer side effects.
As one example, our work in animal models of type 2 diabetes shows that a single injection directly into the brain of a peptide called fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) can normalize elevated blood sugar levels for weeks or months at a time, all while having no sustained effect on body weight. Stated differently, sustained diabetes remission is achievable with just a single dose of FGF1, and rapid advances are being made in understanding how the brain accomplishes this feat. Even in preclinical models of type 1 diabetes, characterized by the complete absence of insulin, the brain can be targeted to normalize the blood sugar level with no apparent adverse effects.
Based on these exciting findings, our program now seeks to 1) identify and characterize the neural basis for these effects, and 2) translate these basic research findings into newer, more effective treatments for patients with diabetes.
Collectively, these considerations highlight how Neuroscience of Metabolism research will shape the future treatment of obesity, diabetes and associated metabolic disorders.
