Project #78: Mechanisms and Delivery of FGF19 in Type 1 Diabetes
Forecasted
Project #78: Mechanisms and Delivery of FGF19 in Type 1 Diabetes supports Armando Puente’s research on delivering FGF15 to beta cells to test whether it can prevent or delay type 1 diabetes in mice.
Funder: Diabetes Research Connection
Due Dates (Anticipated): July 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: DRC program awards: $25,000–$75,000 for one year; graduate students capped at $50,000
Summary: Supports Armando Puente’s research on FGF15 delivery to beta cells to test whether it can prevent or delay type 1 diabetes in mice.
Key Information: DRC applicants must be early-career scientists conducting type 1 diabetes research at U.S. institutions.
Description
Diabetes Research Connection (DRC) supports this active project by Armando Puente at the University of Chicago. The research builds on findings that DFMO, a drug in phase II clinical trials for type 1 diabetes (T1D), induces production of FGF15, whose human equivalent is FGF19. FGF15 absence causes glucose dysregulation in mice, and supplementation has shown therapeutic effects in mouse models of type 2 diabetes.
Puente is testing whether increased FGF15 explains part of DFMO’s potential therapeutic effect in T1D. Using nanolipid particles to deliver FGF15 mRNA directly to beta cells, he aims to determine whether FGF15 production can prevent or delay disease onset in mice. Positive findings would support further studies of human FGF19. DRC’s broader donor-driven program funds novel, peer-reviewed, early-stage T1D research focused on cure, care, complications, and prevention.
