University of Strathclyde

Overview
Based in the heart of Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, the University of Strathclyde is winner of the Times Higher Education UK University of the Year 2019 and The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2020. The University continues to take bold steps in transforming its approach to working with business, industry and government to make a positive impact on the local and global community it serves.
Strathclyde is a socially progressive, leading international technological University, inspired by its Age of Enlightenment founder’s vision of a ‘place of useful learning’. Together with its partners, it has developed shared clusters of research capability in high-growth areas, including Health Technology, Quantum, Space, 5G, Industrial Informatics and FinTech. Strathclyde is the anchor university for the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland, a centre of expertise to help position the UK as a global leader in advanced manufacturing.
Research
Strathclyde is home to world-class researchers who address local, societal and global challenges.
Research is of central importance to everything the University does. It informs teaching and helps make a difference to business, industry and society as a whole. Strathclyde is in the UK’s top 20 universities for research intensity, according to the Times Higher Education’s analysis of REF (Research Excellence Framework) 2014. 
Strathclyde’s leading-edge research and close links with business, industry and public sector organisations make it the university of choice for a growing number of doctoral researchers. Collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches and the desire to create an impact are key drivers at the core of Strathclyde’s research strategy, which is embedded in all its doctoral programmes. Strathclyde’s research programmes showcase its focus on relevance and usefulness, through impact on industry, science and society.
Glasgow City Innovation District
Strathclyde, in partnership with Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurial Scotland has established Scotland’s first innovation district as a hub for entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration, bringing together ambitious, forward-thinking people to tackle societal and global challenges and drive inclusive economic growth.
Technology &amp; Innovation Centre Zone
At the core of the Glasgow City Innovation District, the Technology &amp; Innovation Centre (TIC) zone, sited within the University of Strathclyde, has a high concentration of innovative organisations, including UK Catapult Centres, Scottish Funding Council Innovation Centres and the UK’s first Fraunhofer Institute.
In the TIC Zone, Strathclyde is transforming the way academics, business, industry and the public sector work in partnership. They are working together to find solutions to significant challenges in areas of economic importance.
The Innovation and Industry Engagement Directorate is at the centre of Strathclyde’s strategic commitment to delivering global economic and societal impact. Working with entrepreneurs, academics and external business partners, the aim is to support the formation and growth of commercial opportunities and to facilitate new partnerships between these communities.

<h1 id="background">Background</h1>
Diabetes has been classed as an epidemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with the number of people living with diabetes over four times what it was four decades ago. WHO predict that the disease will soon be the seventh largest killer across the globe. 
There is currently no cure for diabetes but symptoms are largely managed through treatment with insulin and/or through diet and lifestyle. With 422 million people living with diabetes worldwide and 1.6 million deaths annually directly attributed to diabetes, a cure is still the holy grail. 
Scientists at Strathclyde have developed an assay system to allow ‘hits’ for anti-diabetic and anti-obesity drugs to be identified quickly and cheaply, ready for further analysis.
<h1 id="technology-overview">Technology Overview</h1>
A major consequence of insulin action is an increase in the rate of glucose transport into fat and muscle. This is achieved through regulated trafficking of the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT4 from insulin-sensitive intracellular stores to the plasma membrane, a process terms ‘translocation’. A robust easy-to-use assay of insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation has been developed which is a useful read-out for insulin sensitivity and screening potential of antagonistic or synergistic small molecules or other drugs. 
Researchers at Strathclyde employ a stable HeLa cell line engineered to express HA-GLUT4-GFP. This was driven by a need to establish a cell line that can be readily genetically manipulated and imaged, and by a lack of reagents that can target endogenous GLUT4 specifically at the plasma membrane. HA-GLUT4-GFP is widely used in studies of GLUT4 trafficking; it has been extensively characterised and validated. GFP reports on the distribution of GLUT4 and the HA-epitope (only accessible to anti-HA added to the media of non-permeabilised cells) allows quantification of levels of GLUT4 in the plasma membrane. GFP also reports on total levels of GLUT4.
This assay lends itself to FACS analysis and can also be multiplexed in 96-well plates.
<h1 id="benefits">Benefits</h1>
<ul>
<li>Rapid and robust response in easily grown cell lines</li>
<li>FACS assay – large numbers of cells can be quantified</li>
<li>Potential to multiplex into 96-well plates</li>
<li>Simultaneous assay of insulin-stimulated translocation and total GLUT4 levels</li>
<li>Confirmed ‘hits’ can be further analysed in adipocyte lines expressing the same reporter</li>
<li>Cardiovascular lines are in development</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="applications">Applications</h1>
<ul>
<li>Anti-diabetic and anti-obesity drug screening and trials</li>
</ul>