Adeyinka Taiwo, MBBS, MSc, FRCP, has been granted a $150,000 NIH K12 Diabetes-Docs: Physician-Scientist Career Development Program (DiabDocs) Award to study “Identification of key metabolites and metabolic pathways associated with severity of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in persons with Type 1 diabetes.”

This grant is to enable research on identifying metabolites (small molecules) in the plasma and metabolic processes in the liver that could explain the severity of MASLD found in the FibroScan (a liver scan that quantifies the amount of fatty tissue and fibrosis in the liver). Identifying the metabolites involved in the inflammatory pathways would enable future screening and treatments for people with type 1 diabetes at high risk of developing MASLD. Initial K12 funding will begin on July 1, 2024.

Taiwo’s mentors for this career development award are all from the University of Iowa:

• Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism Ayotunde Dokun, MD, PhD, FACE – primary mentor
• Associate Professor of Nephrology Diana Jalal, MD
• Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetes in the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics Andrew Norris, MD, PhD
• Clinical Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Antonio Sanchez, MD
• and Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Eric Taylor, PhD

“I would like to thank the K12 DiabDocs program directors, Dr. [David] Maahs and Dr. [Linda] DiMeglio,” Taiwo said. She also thanked, “Dr. [Isabella] Grumbach; my primary mentor Dr. Dokun, and my secondary mentors, Dr. Jalal, Dr. Sanchez, Dr. Eric Taylor and Dr. Andrew Norris, for the opportunity offered me to do this important research,” Taiwo said.