Bio

Juan Alvarez is a HIRN Emerging Leader Award Recipient and an Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. His research focuses on human stem cell-derived pancreatic islet organoids and mice as model systems to study islet development, physiology, and pathology, and to develop replacement therapies for insulin-dependent diabetes. We focus on the interplay between circadian rhythms, metabolism, and islet cell maturation.

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/investigator-profile-juan-r-alvarez

Projects

• Measuring Islet-wide Function with Soft Integrated Nanoelectronics

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=juan+alvarez

Projects

• A microwell perfusion plate for manufacturing and testing Islet-like clusters

Projects

• Identification of Novel Regulatory Mechanisms Driving Human Beta-Cell Maturation and Function

Projects

• Positron emission tomography to characterize beta cell mass in individuals from multiple stages in the progression of type 1 diabetes

Projects

• GABP is a novel regulator of beta cell metabolism and proliferation

Bio

Leonardo Ferreira is a HIRN Emerging Leader Award Recipient and an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina. His research focuses on phenomenon of immune tolerance, his long term goal is to control how the immune system defines self and non-self. Such knowledge will allow the design and development of powerful new engineered immune cell therapies to fight autoimmune disease, cancer, and aging.

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/investigator-profile-leonardo-m-r-ferreira

Projects

• Dissecting Chimeric Antigen Receptor Function in Human Regulatory T Cells

Bio

Hirotake Komatsu is a Gateway Award Recipient and an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Translational Research & Cellular Therapeutics at City of Hope. His expertise is derived from a broad training in medicine and basic research in the fields of pancreas surgery and pancreatic islet transplantation.

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/investigator-profile-hirotake-komatsu?hilite=%27hirotake%27

Projects

• Vascular Network-mimetic Oxygen-Transporting Mesh for Islet Graft

Bio

Vira Kravets is a HIRN Emerging Leader Award Recipient. She recently accepted a position as an Assistant Professor II at the University of California San Diego. Jointly appointed to the Department of Bioengineering and Department of Pediatrics. She is currently leading interdisciplinary projects in search for the underlying causes for Diabetes. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation supported Fellow, skilled in Islet Biology, Surface Plasmon Resonance, Microscopy, Optics and Public Speaking

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/investigator-profile-vira-kavets

Projects

• Beta-cells 1st Responders and Functional Paracrine Networks in Healthy and Diabetic Human Islets

Bio

Karla Leavens is a HIRN Emerging Leader Award Recipient and Pediatric Endocrinologist in the Division of Endocrinology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Gadue Lab.

Lab:

https://hirnetwork.org/about/participants#short-profile-paul-gadue-phd

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/investigator-profile-karla-leavens

Projects

• Investigation of the Role of HNF1A in Increasing Susceptibility to Type 1 Diabetes
• A Vascularized 3D Biomimetic for Islet Function and Physiology

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=karla+leavens

Bio

Bayou Liu is a Gateway Award Recipient and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Utah. His research focuses on autoimmune diseases (e.g., type I diabetes) via understanding self-antigen recognition by the immune system.

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/investigator-profile-baoyu-liu

Projects

• On the Plasticity of Beta-cell Antigen Recognition by Diabetogenic CD8 T cells

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Baoyu+Liu

Bio

Jing Liu is a Gateway Award Recipient and an Assistant Professor of Physics in the Department of Science at the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis School of Science. His lab focuses on the development of cutting-edge imaging methods and computational image processing/analysis algorithms to quantitatively interpret the complexity of images.

Projects

• Image based spatial transcriptomics to identify Beta Cell phenotypes in Type 1 Diabetes
• PanKbase: A Community Hub for Integrated Pancreas Knowledge

Bio

Matthew Wortham is a Gateway Award Recipient and an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Diego. His research is to define the mechanisms whereby beta cells detect and respond to changes in their metabolic environment.

Lab:

https://hirnetwork.org/about/participants#short-profile-maike-sander-md

Projects

• A 3D Biomimetic Human Islet to Model Beta Cell Function in Health and Disease
• Metabolic requirements of pancreatic beta cell proliferation

Projects

• Gene regulatory programs driving metabolic maturation of human pluripotent stem cell derived β-cells