Kirk Habegger
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Physiology
Much of what researchers learn about diabetes and related heart and metabolic diseases comes from animal models. Measuring an animal's body fat, energy use, blood sugar control or heart function requires specialized equipment and expertise that most individual labs lack.
- Fields
Physiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
diabetes
cardiometabolic disease
glucose homeostasis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2028
What they work on
- Provide expertise in selecting and using animal models, including genetically modified animals, for research on diabetes and cardiometabolic disease.
- Measure body composition, energy expenditure and substrate metabolism (which fuels an animal burns), helping investigators study how body weight and energy balance are regulated in their models.
- Assess glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity and secretion, mitochondrial metabolism, and oxidative and hormonal stress to show how metabolism is disrupted in diabetes models.
- Train investigators in animal phenotyping methods, the systematic measurement of an animal's physiological traits, and deliver these services cost-efficiently to Diabetes Research Center members.
More about the research
This grant supports the Animal Physiology Core of the Diabetes Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The core is directed by Kirk Habegger with three associate directors and serves as a shared resource for diabetes and cardiometabolic research.
Why it matters
Standardized physiological measurements in animals help researchers learn how blood sugar and body weight are regulated, how diet and genes contribute to diabetes, and what drives cardiovascular risk. By making these measurements widely accessible, the core supports studies that may help uncover disease mechanisms and develop new medications for people with diabetes and cardiometabolic disease.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Andrea Hevener
University of California-San Diego, CA·Physiology
Provide measurements of hormone sensitivity, body composition and energy balance in genetically engineered mice, including indirect calorimetry and glucose and insulin tolerance tests.
Samuel Stephens
University of Iowa, IA·Physiology
Establish how glucose metabolism in beta cells supplies reducing molecules that control the redox state of the endoplasmic reticulum, using imaging of proinsulin trafficking reporters in human and rodent diabetes models.
Ren Zhang
Wayne State University, MI·Biochemistry
Determine whether MNADK, the mitochondrial NAD kinase, preserves liver energy balance and insulin sensitivity and reduces risk of NASH and type 2 diabetes, using genetically engineered mouse models.
The school
University of Alabama at Birmingham: 45 labs on PI Pages, $866M a year on research, 166 research doctorates a year.
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