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Update on NIH Changes

We encourage investigators to review the NIH website for the latest status of changes impacting NIH grants administration and funding. Please check regularly for updated information.

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Funding Opportunity: Innate Immunity in Type 1 Diabetes

The HIRN Pancreas Knowledgebase Program (PanKbase) recently announced new pilot funding opportunity aimed at advancing data-driven pancreas and type 1 diabetes research. With advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in Generative AI (GenAI), this pilot program will focus on two applications.

PanKbase seeks partnerships with other data-focused programs to enhance collaboration, reduce redundancy, and amplify collective impact. Proposals are encouraged that tackle challenges in this space, particularly those using generative AI, large language models (LLMs), or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).

Application Deadline: August 31, 2025

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HIRN Data Scholars Awards

A new funding initiative to support the use of existing HIRN datasets and resources to explore unique and innovative hypotheses designed to accelerate breakthroughs and advances in type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.

Application Deadline: November 1, 2025

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HIRN Gateway Funding Awards

New Investigator Gateway Awards for Collaborative T1D Research

The New Investigator Gateway Award in T1D Research is designed to support a robust pipeline of innovative projects and talented new investigators in T1D research. In addition to providing support for preliminary research, the Gateway program provides an opportunity for new investigators to pursue their studies within the intellectual environment of a select number of large, ongoing collaborative research programs.

Application Deadline: March 6, 2026

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HIRN 2025 Annual Meeting

The HIRN 10th Anniversary Meeting (“Changing the Course in Type 1 Diabetes”) was hosted at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD on January 13^th – 14, 2025.

Presentation reflected on the state of the diabetes research field, and the future direction of T1D research. More information available on the meeting website.

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The Human Islet Research Network (HIRN) was established in 2014 to help organize and support collaborative research related to the loss of functional beta cell mass in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). The project consists of five independent research initiatives.

Research Resources

Latest News

HIRN Data Scholars Awards

A new funding initiative to support the use of existing HIRN datasets and resources to explore unique and innovative hypotheses designed to accelerate breakthroughs and advances in type 1 diabetes…

HIRN Webinar: Identification of Unique Cell Type Responses in Pancreatic Islets to Stress

Click HERE to view YouTube recording of the webinar. Thursday, March 27, 2025 (1:00 pm Eastern / 10:00 am Pacific) Presentation by: Marlie Maestas, PhD Candidate, Washington University School of…

New Consortium: Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes

Five new awards were announced for the newly created HIRN Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes (CMAD) (RFA-DK-23-004) Models to Study the Synergy between Autoimmunity and Metabolism in T1D (UG3 DK14192) Mike Brehm*,…

Independent Research Initiatives

Consortium on Beta Cell Death and Survival

CBDS is using human pancreatic tissues to discover mechanisms of cellular stress or dysfunction that may contribute to the development of autoimmunity in at-risk individuals, to identify specific biomarkers of the asymptomatic phase of T1D, and to develop innovative strategies to stop beta cell destruction early in the disease process.

Consortium on Human Islet Biomimetics

CHIB is combining advances in beta cell biology and stem cell biology with tissue engineering technologies to develop microdevices that support functional human islets.

Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Interactions

The CMAI is developing innovative approaches to model basic aspects of human T1D immunobiology using novel in vivo and in vitro platforms.

Consortium on Targeting and Regeneration

CTAR is investigating methods to increase or maintain functional beta cell mass in T1D through targeted manipulation of islet plasticity or engineered protection of beta cells from immune-mediated destruction.

Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium

The Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC) is investigating the physical and functional organization of the human islet tissue environment, the cell-cell relationships within the pancreatic tissue ecosystem, and the contributions of non-endocrine components (acinar, ductal, vascular, perivascular, neuronal, lymphatic, immune) to islet cell function and dysfunction.

Pancreas Knowledgebase Program

PanKbase is a centralized resource of the human pancreas for diabetes research that will provide access to deeply curated high-quality datasets, knowledge in computable forms, and advanced data science tools and workflows; and enable open and reproducible multidisciplinary collaboration toward accelerating biomarker and therapeutic target development.

HIRN-OPP

Opportunity Pool Projects

The Human Islet Research Network (HIRN) was established In 2014 to help organize and support collaborative research related to the loss of functional beta cell mass in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). The project consists of five independent research initiatives.

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