Research
Learn how we’ve been at the forefront of discovery, and committed to preventing and curing diabetes worldwide.
NIH/NIDDK Diabetes Research Center
The Joslin DRC
Since its founding in 1898, the mission of the Joslin Diabetes Center has been to improve the lives of patients with diabetes through research, clinical care, and education to find new treatments, improve care and prevent disease in those at risk. This research at Joslin has been supported for nearly 40 years by NIH/NIDDK through a Diabetes Research Center (DRC) Program Grant. Since 2023, this program has been led by Jean Schaffer, MD.
Mission of the DRC at Joslin
- Create an environment that supports world-class investigation in diabetes and metabolism.
- Sustain and strengthen the diabetes research infrastructure through core laboratories that provide outstanding expertise and leading-edge technologies.
- Nurture new talent in diabetes and metabolism and advance highly innovative science through a Pilot & Feasibility Program.
- Catalyze new diabetes research and multidisciplinary collaborations that transform the field of diabetes research through a comprehensive program of seminars and symposia (Enrichment Program).
- Accelerate translation of new discoveries to improved care and prevention.
Joslin DRC Cores & Programs
Animal Physiology Core
The Animal Physiology Core provides technically advanced, preclinical in vivo platforms for translation from molecular discoveries to physiologically meaningful insights relevant to human metabolic disease.
Clinical Translational Research Core
The Joslin Clinical Translational Research Center provides expertise and infrastructure for leading-edge clinical studies of diabetes, metabolism, and complications. Our Biorepository enhances access to biospecimens and associated data for investigators in the Joslin DRC research base and the broader research community.
Enrichment Program
Enrichment Program seminars and symposia foster discussion and exchange of ideas both within the Joslin DRC and between DRC investigators and outside researchers. The program provides a platform for dissemination of emerging ideas and sparks new collaborations.
Flow Cytometry Core
The Flow Cytometry Core provides state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise for quantitative phenotyping of cells and the isolation of highly pure cell populations and subcellular particles from primary human or rodent tissues, cultured cells, and iPSC-derived cells and organoids.
Molecular Phenotyping & Genotyping Core
The Molecular Phenotyping and Genotyping Core supports Joslin and external investigators in studying molecular mechanisms of disease by providing expertise, services, and training to facilitate multi-modal analysis of the genetic and transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underpinning metabolic disease and metabolic phenotyping.
Pilot & Feasibility Program
The Pilot & Feasibility Program provides funds to catalyze new and innovative research for investigations related to the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications and technical advances to enable better treatments and potential cures for all types of diabetes and related complications. A high priority of this program is to support proposals from early-career investigators.
