Diabetes Research Laboratory

People

• Director
• Lisa Stehno-Bittel, PT, PhD
• Irina Smirnova, PhD
• Yvonne Searls, PT, PhD
• Staff
• Lesya Novikova, PhD
• S. Janette Williams
• Graduate Students
• Kevin Farmer
• Floyd Huang
• Neena Sharma
• Lisa Vanhoose

Equipment
Below is a list of the major pieces of equipment in the lab

• Olympus Confocal Microscope
• COPAS Plus Biosorter
• Nalgene/Mini Mitter Running Wheels
• 2-D Protein Electrophoresis
• Metabolic Modular Treadmill/Small Animal Calorimeter
• ADInstruments PowerLab with Millar Pressure-Volume Catheter
• Laminar Flow Hood
• Microplate Reader
• Rodent Treadmill

Research

• Current Projects
• Publications

Drs. Stehno-Bittel, Smirnova and Searls work collaboratively to study the effects of chronic diabetes on rat cardiovascular system.

Dr. Stehno-Bittel leads the work examining the connective tissue changes surrounding vessels. More recently, she has been involved in refining the protocol of isolating insulin producing beta-islets for transplantation in diabetic rats. This project focuses on finding measurable markers that can be used to predict the quality of isolated beta-islets and their suitability for the transplantation.

Dr. Smirnova heads the work on diabetes and heart tissue. She is interested in the cellular signaling involved in the pathological processes associated with diabetes, and how various interventions, including physical training, can help to protect the damaged diabetic heart.

Dr. Searls studies the signaling pathways triggered by diabetes in the vascular smooth muscle cells, including calcium mobilization and transcription factor activation affected by the hyperglycemia.

All investigators are examining the effects of endurance exercise on the negative consequences associated with chronic diabetes. The goal is to determine whether exercise training can directly thwart the long term effects of diabetes on the tissues studied.

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