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Year 5 & Year 6 Executive Summary Report

The HIRN Year 5 & Year 6 Executive Summary Report is now available online! The report reflects significant HIRN breakthroughs, developments and advancements across the entire network. This 2-year report reflects activity from October 2018 through September 2020.

Cover Image: Dan Huh, Univ. Pennsylvania, CHIB Stanger UG3. A cross-sectional view of a vascularized three-dimensional biomimetic device visualized by scanning electron microscopy. A micro-capillary is seen in cross-section along with a functional pericyte (upper right) and surrounding matrix.

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HIRN 2022 Trainee Scholarship Recipients

The following are recipients of HIRN 2022 Trainee Scholarships. These trainees submitted abstracts that were competitively reviewed by members of the HIRN Annual Meeting Planning Committee and selected as being highly meritorious.

– Gregory Golden, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pennsylvania
– Abhishek Kulkarni, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Florida
– Olha Melnyk, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Indiana University School of Medicine
– Ali Shilleh, Graduate Student, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

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HIRN Funding Opportunities

- HIRN CTAR (RFA-DK-22-009)
  Due: October 26, 2022
  Requesting projects to develop strategies to target the human pancreatic environment in-vivo to deliver regulatory cells, molecules or gene constructs that can protect or replenish functional beta cell mass, or to engineer cellular or synthetic sentinel biomarkers that can safely monitor the islet tissue environment in individuals at risk of developing T1D.
- NIH Integrated Physiology of Exocrine and Endocrine Pancreas in T1D (RFA-DK-22-022)
  Due February 21, 2023
- NIH Gateway Awards (RFA-DK-21-030)
  Due March 20, 2023

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HIRN 2022 Poster Award Recipients

The following trainees were selected as award recipients based on the posters they presented at the HIRN 2022 Annual Investigator Meeting.

– Vrushali Agashe, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Scientist Columbia University Irving Medical Center
– Cristiane dos Santos, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Vanderbilt University
– Udi Ehud Knebel, Doctoral Student, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
– Leslie Wagner, Doctoral Student, Indiana University School of Medicine

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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 2022 Poster Award Recipients

The following trainees were selected as award recipients based on the posters they presented at the HIRN 2022 Annual Investigator Meeting. Vrushali Agashe, PhD Institution: Columbia University Irving Medical Center,…

HIRN Catalyst Award Recipients

Congratulations to the HIRN Catalyst Award Recipients Awards Congratulations to the four recipients of our internally funded “Catalyst” initiative. The goal of this initiative was to support investigators developing bold,…

HIRN 2022 Trainee Scholarship Recipient

The following trainees are recipients of the HIRN 2022 Scholarship based on competitive review of abstracts by members of the HIRN Planning Committee. Gregory Golden, PhD Institution: University of…

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.

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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