Research activities
Mark Palmert
Assistant Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
I conduct research in a variety of areas, but my main research activity has centred on variations in the timing and pace of pubertal development. My research program involves the combination of clinical research and an active laboratory-based program designed to identify genetic factors that modulate the timing of puberty.
Denis Daneman
Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
My research has focused on three main areas: (I) eating disorders in adolescent females with type 1 diabetes. Our group has shown that these disorders are about twice as common in these females as in their non-diabetic peers, contribute to poor metabolic control and early onset of microvascular complications, and are difficult to treat. Ongoing research aims to determine which factors predispose to the development of eating pathology and how these may best be modified. (II) Early diabetic nephropathy: Our goal has been to determine which factors predispose children and teens with type 1 diabetes to the development and progression of early nephropathy. Work has focused on cellular sodium transport, ACE inhibition and tight metabolic control. We have also assessed the natural history of this complication in terms of microalbuminuria, kidney volume and BP regulation. (III) Factors affecting metabolic control in children and teens with diabetes. Current studies include assessment of the use of insulin sensitizing agents in modualting the insulin resistance of puberty.
Jill K. Hamilton
Associate Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
My research interests include the clinical and biochemical manifestations of insulin resistance in the pediatric age group. I have recently been involved in a study examining whether metabolic control could be improved by modifying the insulin resistance of puberty with an oral agent in teens with type 1 diabetes. I am also the site PI in a multicentre study examining the effectiveness of rosiglitazone in the treatment of paediatric type 2 diabetes.
Kusiel Perlman
Associate Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
My present research is focused on two main areas: 1) the assessment and incorporation of new and evolving technologies in the care of children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, 2) involvement in clinical trials to assess, in children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, the effects of new insulin preparations and routes of insulin delivery.
Etienne Sochett
Associate Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
My research involves the study of the determinants of microalbuminuria expression in puberty in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. My colleagues and I are following a cohort of adolescents from early puberty until the onset of microalbuminuria to ascertain causative and predictive factors. All planned measurements (kidney size, ambulatory blood pressure, sodium-lithium countertransport, Haemoglobin A1c, and urinary albumin excretion rate) are complete. I also study renal function and early ambulatory blood pressure monitoring abnormalities in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Eleven of 14 subjects (7 with normal and 7 with high night-to-day ratios on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring) have been studied to date. The results suggest that those with high night-to-day ratios are hyperfiltering and have activation of the local (kidney) renin-angiotensin system.
Diane K. Wherrett
Assistant Professor - Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
My research interest is in the immunology of type 1 diabetes, particularly in clinical trials of prevention of type 1 diabetes. I am presently local principal investigator for the Canadian Nicotinamide Diabetes Intervention Trial and The Diabetes Prevention Trial Type-1.
Stacey Urbach
Assistant Professor- Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto,The Hospital for Sick Children
My research focuses on the endocrine late effects experienced by survivors of childhood cancer. Outcomes of interest include pituitary disorders, metabolic abnormalities and bone health.