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Congratulations to Dr. Partha Dutta who was recently awarded a new NIH-NIDDK R01. Dr. Dutta has been awarded annual direct costs of over $250,000 his grant titled, “The role of SerpinB2 in insulin resistance and inflammation.” This proposal was submitted in response to the competitive funding opportunity titled NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01) under funding opportunity number PA-20-185.

Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1/ SerpinE1) and type 2 (PAI-2/ SerpinB2) are serine protease inhibitors of tissue plasminogen activator and urokinase. In contrast to well-known pathologic role of PAI-1 in metabolic syndrome, our preliminary data indicate that PAI-2/ SerpinB2 plays a protective role in obesity- induced insulin resistance. Understanding the mechanisms involved in maintaining glucose tolerance by PAI-2/ SerpinB2 will significantly improve our knowledge on drug development to treat insulin resistance.