The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Catalyst Award program has awarded a $4 million, five-year grant to Prashant Rajbhandari, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease) at the Mount Sinai Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute, to investigate a new frontier in understanding metabolic diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes. While much is known about how organs like the liver, fat tissue, and pancreas contribute to these conditions, Dr. Rajbhandari and his team are turning their focus to an overlooked player-;the mammary gland.
Their project is designated by the NIDDK as a High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. By using advanced technologies and machine learning that analyze single cells and proteins, the team and I hope to identify specific hormones produced by the mammary gland, which we call 'mammokines. We believe mammokines could play a critical role in how the mammary gland communicates with different organs during breastfeeding and pregnancy and may influence obesity and diabetes in both mothers and offspring.
Understanding these interactions might lead to new treatments or biomarkers for these diseases, particularly in women." Prashant Rajbhandari, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease) at the Mount Sinai Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute The grant is part of the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award (DP1) mechanism..