Use Restrictions

No use restrictions.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Preferred Citation

Joseph Larner Laboratory Research Papers, Accession #MS-60, Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The collection was assembled by Douglas Heimark and transferred from the Larner Laboratory in the University of Virginia's Aurbach Medical Research Building at Fontaine Research Park to the University of Virginia Claude Moore Health Sciences Library on 31 July 2014.

Biographical/Historical Information

Dr. Joseph Larner (1921-2014) was renowned for his work in the fields of pharmacology and biochemistry. Larner's accomplishments include serving as Chairman of the UVA Department of Pharmacology from 1969-1990, founding the UVA Diabetes Center for research in 1974, and receiving the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement in Diabetes Research from the American Diabetes Association in 1987. His research, which he continued into his 90s, included the discovery of a carbohydrate compound, or glycan, made up of D-chiro-inositol and Galactosamine. D-chiro-inositol is a naturally occuring carbohydrate which is deficient in many patients with insulin resistance diseases; Galactosamine is an amino sugar. The compound isolated and later chemically synthesized by Larner's laboratory, called INS-2, was shown to help lower blood sugar, and was the focus of much of Larner's research. The Larner laboratory worked to isolate the enzyme responsible for producing D-chiro-inositol in the body and also searched for the relevant gene. INS-2 continues to be studied by some of Larner's collaborators today. During his time at UVA, Larner worked with many promising scientists, two of whom later won Nobel Prizes: Alfred Gilman and Ferid Murad in 1994 and 1998 respectively. Dr. Joseph Larner died 28 January 2014.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of 23 folders containing research notebooks from the Larner laboratory dated 1990 to 2014 and a bibliography of Larner's work from 1949 to 1999. The research was recorded by Douglas Heimark, a Senior Pharmacology Laboratory Research Specialist in the Joseph Larner Laboratory, and primarily pertains to the study of INS-2 and insulin resistance in cases of Type II diabetes, PCOS, preeclampsia, and Alzheimer's.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged in folders by subject and chronology.