Four junior researchers at the OU Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center have received 2010 Talley Research Awards for their work with diabetes.

The awards were created by Britani Talley Bowman in honor of her father, Hobart native and OU alumnus William "Bill" W. Talley II.

They are given to researchers whose basic research or community-based studies are expected to improve diabetes care and prevention.

Each award provides a junior researcher with up to $45,000 to help make a research project competitive for funding at the national level within 18 months.

This year's recipients, all medical doctors with the OU College of Medicine, are Madona Azar, assistant professor in endocrinology and diabetes section; Junping Chen, clinical research instructor, endocrinology and diabetes; Zhongchao Han, assistant professor of research, cell biology department; Xin (Sarah) Zhang, assistant professor, endocrinology and diabetes.

''Awards such as the Talley Award are extremely important for starting the career of a promising junior researcher, attracting young, talented scientists to Oklahoma, and for developing new research projects," said Dr. Timothy Lyons, director of the diabetes center. "These investigators represent the best of what's to come, and to have them right here in Oklahoma where they can have the greatest impact on the health of our citizens, and in combating diabetes, is significant."

The projects are:

• Azar: Determine the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes in early pregnancy in American Indian women in Oklahoma, and explore innovative and effective ways to detect it.

• Chen: Mechanisms of cardiovascular dysfunction in prediabetic phase, especially the roles of advance glycation end-products, endothelial dysfunction and inflammation.

• Han: Focus on treating neuro-ocular and neuro-ocular-related disorders via gene therapies, with a long-term goal of improving clinical application.

• Zhang: Understand cellular mechanisms of vascular inflammatory response in the diabetic retina and develop better therapies to prevent vision loss in diabetic patients.