What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes? Diabetes results in high sugars that damage small blood vessels throughout the body. This can lead to dysfunction of multiple organs including the brain, eyes, heart, kidneys, and nerves. Proper small vessel function is critical for oxygenation and nutrient delivery. The mechanisms that drive small vessel damage are clearly complicated and incompletely understood. A significant barrier is cause by the complex organization of small vessels, which