U of IL at Chicago Team Receives Grant for Diabetes Research

CHICAGO - Oct. 24, 2013 - PRLog -- A research team led by Dr. Sriram Ravindran, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Oral Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry, is the recipient of one of only five 2013 UIC Chancellor’s Discovery Fund for Multidisciplinary Research grants. The amount totals $50,000.

         The title of the team’s proposal is “Biomimetic Tissue Engineering to Improve Life and Functionality of Transplanted Islets.” The investigators hope to improve long-term outcomes for diabetics receiving transplanted islets, by implanting islets in a biomimetic environment and improving angiogenesis of scaffolds by incorporating micro channels.

         Chancellor Paula-Allen Meares’s program was established to support new multidisciplinary collaborations by emerging researchers at UIC, foster academic inquiry, nurture research career trajectories of promising early-stage investigators, and help recipients leverage extramural funding.

         Dr. Ravindran’s team includes Drs. Jun Cheng, Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, Engineering and Medicine, and Yong Wang, Assistant Professor, Surgery, Medicine, UIC.

         "On behalf of the group, I would like to thank the Chancellor for funding our project,” Dr. Ravindran said. “I would also like to thank the College’s Office of Research and former Associate Dean Dr. Phil Marucha for pledging College funds for this project. We hope that results from this study will one day improve the quality of life of diabetes patients."

         The Chancellor’s Discovery Fund program supports multidisciplinary pilot research projects in the Basic Life Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Natural Sciences & Engineering, and Social Sciences & the Humanities.