UF to build online diabetes data collection system
University of Florida researchers have been selected to develop and host a World Wide Web-based data collection and analysis system for a nationwide group of scientists studying complications of diabetes.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded a five-year, $2.1 million grant to College of Medicine researcher Richard McIndoe, Ph.D., to build a Web portal for The Animal Models of Diabetic Complications Consortium. In an effort to determine causes, preventions and treatments, scientists in the nine-university consortium investigate complications of diabetes involving different organ systems and biochemical pathways, such as problems of the kidney, eyes, nerves, heart and blood vessels caused by the disease.
An estimated 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life, according to the National Institutes of Health.
As director of the bioinformatics unit, McIndoe, an assistant professor of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine, will build and oversee the Web gateway, where information from the consortium studies will be collected and coordinated to enhance research endeavors through improved information sharing and data accessibility. The Web site – www.amdcc.org – also will provide affiliated scientists numerous tools to analyze their data.
The consortium will interact with external researchers doing similar studies and assist them in connecting to the group’s Web-based system where appropriate. The public will be able to obtain consortium announcements, newsletters and news releases, as well as access information about scientific meetings and discussion forums.
In addition to UF’s bioinformatics and coordinating component, the consortium consists of eight mouse engineering units based at other institutions, including Yale University in Connecticut and Duke University in North Carolina, where the animal models of the diabetic complications will be created and studied.