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CHRISTIAN MESSA McCoy Foundation contributes $450,000 to diabetes research Grant will purchase mass spectrometer to help UTMB
researchers better understand how the GALVESTON, Texas — Diabetes researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will soon be equipped to peer deeper into the mechanisms of the disease than anyone has ever done before. A mass spectrometer, made possible by a $450,000 grant from the Emmett and Miriam McCoy Foundation, is expected to be operational in late February to help UTMB researchers develop better treatments and more accurate diagnostic procedures. The mass spectrometer allows scientists to identify the composition of human proteins by subjecting them to the device’s magnetic fields. Proteins, such as hormones and enzymes, influence the body’s essential functions and its immune response. The mass spectrometer’s magnetic fields break the proteins into fragments, which are then charged and measured to identify the substances that make up the proteins. Doing so will allow UTMB researchers to determine how proteins differ in people with and without diabetes, as well as how cells change in relation to the disease. Dr. Larry Denner, director of UTMB’s Emmett and Miriam McCoy Diabetes Research Laboratory, said testing the composition of certain proteins may help researchers design better drugs to combat diabetes. “The mass spectrometer will allow us to study ways to evaluate how drug intervention with a particular protein will likely affect the disease,” said Denner, an associate professor of internal medicine and director of research for UTMB’s Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Diabetes Center. Denner said the instrument’s ability to reveal the composition of proteins could also lead to more accurate diagnostic tests for the disease. Data gleaned from the mass spectrometer may help researchers transform stem cells into insulin-producing cells as well. Stem cells used in the UTMB diabetes studies come from the blood of naturally discarded human placentas. The McCoy Foundation of San Marcos has strongly supported stem cell research at UTMB that targets diabetes, as has the Houston-based Clayton Foundation for Research. Mass spectrometers have been around for years, but Denner said they have only recently become accurate enough to examine proteins. To his knowledge, Denner does not believe any other medical research institution in the world is using the instrument in this particular area of diabetes research. He said he is grateful to the McCoy Foundation for providing him the opportunity to conduct such cutting-edge research. “It’s all because of the McCoys’ incredible generosity and kindness of heart that we’ll be able to employ this novel approach in the fight against diabetes,” Denner said. Dr. Randall J. Urban, director of the Stark Diabetes Center and chair ad interim of the UTMB Department of Internal Medicine, said the McCoys’ dedication to ongoing diabetes research at UTMB has inspired his research team. “We’re incredibly honored by Mr. and Mrs. McCoy’s confidence in our work; that enthusiasm is very contagious and spurs us to double our efforts in searching for a cure for diabetes,” said Urban, the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine. Emmett McCoy and his wife, Miriam, who has been living with type 1 diabetes for nearly 40 years, created their foundation in 1993. Those with type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin and must receive insulin injections to survive. The president and chief executive officer of McCoy’s Building Supply Centers from 1950 to 1997, Emmett McCoy opened McCoy Supply Co. in the 1940s with his father, selling roofing materials to the public in the Houston-Galveston area. Today, the company is one of the largest family-owned businesses in the home improvement industry. The McCoys’ foundation is separate from the corporation. In addition to funding diabetes research at UTMB, the McCoys have supported an educational program at the Stark Diabetes Center that offers the latest training to health care professionals who instruct adult diabetes patients how to manage their disease better. UTMB |
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