Bio

Dr. Justin Annes specializes in the treatment of hereditary endocrine disorders with particular focus on neuroendocrine-related conditions. He developed the Stanford Endocrine Genetics Clinic in 2012 which is part of the interdisciplinary Stanford Hypertension Center and Stanford Neuroendocrine Tumor Program. Additionally, he has had a medical practice focused on hereditary endocrine disease since 2008.

Projects

• Developing a Platform Technology for β-Cell-Targeted Drug Delivery

Bio

Mark Atkinson is currently the American Diabetes Association Eminent Scholar for Diabetes Research and the Jeffrey Keene Family Professor at the University of Florida. He also is the Director of the Diabetes Institute at the University of Florida. Additionally, he is the Executive Director of the JDRF Network for Pancreatic Organ donors with Diabetes (nPOD) program and the President of Insulin for Life USA, the world’s second largest charity dedicated to providing insulin to persons living with diabetes in the developing world. His research focuses on type 1 diabetes, pancreatic pathology, immune therapy, autoimmunity, clinical trials, translational research, emerging technologies, psychosocial behaviors, and metabolism.

Projects

• Defining Islet Heterogeneity Using Single Islet Transcriptomics
• HPAP T1D: Human Pancreas Analysis Program for Type 1 Diabetes
• Integrated Program for Human Pancreas Procurement and Analysis
• HPAP T2D: Human Pancreas Analysis Program
• HPAP T2D: Human Pancreas Analysis Program (Vanderbilt)
• Antibodies for Beta-Cell Subtype Identification by Immunohistochemistry
• Single-Cell Analyses of Human Islets in T1D Using Highly Multiplexed Imaging

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Mark+Atkinson

Projects

• Driving Next Generation UPR Inhibitory Kinase Inhibitors for T1D

Projects

• The Role of Granular Acidification in the Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes

Bio

Olivier Blondel is a NIH NIDDK Program Director in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases. His interests lie in research that focuses on endocrine signaling, stem cell biology, organ development, regenerative medicine and biomarker discovery as it relates to diabetes (type 1 and type 2) and metabolic diseases, particularly in combination with experimental approaches such as large-scale genomics, synthetic biology, bioengineering, epigenetics, nuclear organization of mammalian genomes, chromatin biology, genome editing, gene therapy

Bio

Shuibing Chen is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and Department of Biochemistry at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her research interest is to manipulate stem cell fate using chemical and biological approaches and to generate functional tissues and organs that can be used for translational research.

Projects

• Determining the Intrinsic and Environmental Signal Contributing to Early T1D Progression
• Decoding the Cell-specific Impact of Epigenomic and Alternative Splicing Regulation during T1D Progression
• PanKbase: A Community Hub for Integrated Pancreas Knowledge

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Shuibing+Chen

Bio

Sangeeta Dhawan is a HIRN New Investigator and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Translational Research & Cellular Therapeutics. Her research focuses on the understanding the biology of the insulin producing beta cells.

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/profile-dhawan

Projects

• Targeting DNA Hydroxymethylation to Promote Human Beta Cell Function

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Sangeeta+Dhawan

Bio

Decio L. Eizirik is a Professor at the ULB Center for Diabetes Research Medical Faculty, Universite Libre de Bruxells (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms regulating insulitis and beta cell apoptosis in type 1 diabetes and on the search for novel approaches to prevent the progressive loss of beta cell mass in diabetes.

Projects

• Biomarkers of Beta Cell Stress in Type 1 Diabetes (BetaMarker)
• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Decio+Eizirik%2C

HIRN Webinar:

Bio

Carmella Evans-Molina is the Director of the Indiana University Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, J. O. Ritchey Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, and Director of the IDRC Islet and Physiology Core.. She directs the Diabetes Research Program in the Herman B. Wells Center for Pediatric Research and is a staff physician at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center. Her research is focused on defining the molecular and inflammatory etiologies of β-cell dysfunction that contribute to diabetes pathophysiology. She has a clinical research interest focused on leveraging activation of β-cell stress pathways to inform the development of biomarkers that predict diabetes risk and define disease endotypes.

Projects

• Biomarkers of Beta Cell Stress in Type 1 Diabetes (BetaMarker)
• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment
• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D
• Workshop for Continued Harmonization of Beta Cell Death Assays

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Carmella+Evans-Molina

Bio

Manami Hara is a Research Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Chicago. Her research focus is on the developmental biology of pancreatic islets. The islet of Langerhans is a micro-organ composed of insulin-secreting beta-cells and other endocrine cells that work together to maintain glucose homeostasis.

Projects

• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D
• Role of Pancreatic Elastase in Beta Cell Health, Autoimmunity and Type 1 Diabetes

HIRN Webinar:

Bio

Kevan Herold is the C.N.H. Long Professor of Immunobiology and of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. He studies autoimmune diseases, whether they occur naturally or as a consequence of immunomodulator therapy.

Projects

• Epigenetic, Protein, and Cellular Biomarkers of Beta Cell Function in T1D
• Advanced Pancreatic-immune Organoid Models of Type 1 Diabetes Subtypes and Therapeutic Responses

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=+Kevan+Herold

Projects

• Decoding the Cell-specific Impact of Epigenomic and Alternative Splicing Regulation during T1D Progression

Projects

• Beta Cell Death in early Type 1 Diabetes caused by Innate Immune Response to Inefficient RNA Editing

Projects

• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment

Bio

Rohit Kulkarni is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Co-Head of the Section on Islet & Regenerative Biology at Joslin Diabetes Center. His research explores the significance of growth factor signaling mechanisms in the regulation of islet biology by creating genetic models to examine the roles of insulin/IGF-1 receptors and their substrate proteins.

Projects

• Development of platforms for beta cell-specific delivery and ligand discovery
• Development of Small Molecule-based Methods for Targeted Cargo Delivery to Beta Cells
• Interrogation of Dynamic RNA Modifications in Beta Cells in Type 1 Diabetes
• Using ex vivo, in vivo Models and Patient Mutations to Interrogate Pancreatic Exocrine-Endocrine Cross Talk
• Role of Pancreatic Elastase in Beta Cell Health, Autoimmunity and Type 1 Diabetes
• Regulatory Networks and Biomarkers of Beta-cell Dysfunction and Apoptosis
• One-compound, one-islet: A High-throughput Platform for Small-molecule Discovery

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Rohit+Kulkarni

HIRN Webinar:

Projects

• Beta Cell Death in early Type 1 Diabetes caused by Innate Immune Response to Inefficient RNA Editing

Projects

• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment

Bio

Chengyang Liu is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery and the Director of the Human Islet Laboratory & Clinical GMP Facility at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Projects

• Determining the Intrinsic and Environmental Signal Contributing to Early T1D Progression
• Decoding the Cell-specific Impact of Epigenomic and Alternative Splicing Regulation during T1D Progression

Investigator Contributed Resources:

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

Michael McManus is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco and a member of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Diabetes Center, the Eli & Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, and the Innovative Genomics Institute.

Projects

• iSTAR Tregs

Bio

Raghavendra Mirmira is the Director of the Department of Medicine Translational Research Center and Professor of Medicine in the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Chicago. His research focuses his efforts on the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and the biology of the islet. His laboratory is interested in three key areas: the role of mRNA translation in the cellular response of islet β cells to inflammation; the role of lipoxygenases in dysfunction of β cells in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes; and the identification of biomarkers of β-cell stress and death in diabetes.

Projects

• Biomarkers of Beta Cell Stress in Type 1 Diabetes (BetaMarker)
• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment
• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D
• Role of Pancreatic Elastase in Beta Cell Health, Autoimmunity and Type 1 Diabetes

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Mirmira

HIRN Webinar:

Bio

Ernesto Nakayasu is a senior research scientist focused on understanding molecular mechanisms of diseases. Nakayasu has been applying systems biology and mass spectrometry-based omics measurements to study how pathogens and metabolic alterations cause human diseases; the goal is to identify diagnostic and therapeutic targets. He has been integrating multi-omics approaches to develop biomarkers of diseases and to study signaling and metabolic pathways that are altered or targeted in infectious and metabolic diseases.

Projects

• Biomarkers of Beta Cell Stress in Type 1 Diabetes (BetaMarker)
• BioStructure & Function Team Leader
• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment
• Alternative RNA splicing events contribute to the onset of islet dysfunction in T1D

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=ernesto+nakayasu

Bio

Scott Oakes’s laboratory studies how mammalian cells commit “suicide” in response to various forms of damage and what goes wrong with this process in cancer and other diseases. In particular, they focus on a type of stress that occurs when the cell’s protein folding factory—an organelle called the endoplasmic reticulum—is overwhelmed and protein quality control fails. He is actively engaged in developing drugs to control cell fate under these conditions, which have potential to benefit patients with diseases from cancer to neurodegeneration.

Projects

• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment
• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D
• Role of Pancreatic Elastase in Beta Cell Health, Autoimmunity and Type 1 Diabetes

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=scott+oakes

Projects

• Decoding the Cell-specific Impact of Epigenomic and Alternative Splicing Regulation during T1D Progression

Bio

Audrey Parent is a CMAI co-Investigator and a member of the Trans-Network Committee (TNC). She is Assistant Adjunct Professor and her research is focused on immune tolerance with a particular interest in the thymus.

Projects

• Modeling Autoimmune Pathogenesis and Beta Cell Destruction by T1D Immune Systems
• Stem Cell-based Modeling of Type 1 Diabetes to Accelerate Translation of Therapies
• iSTAR Tregs

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Audrey+Parent

Bio

Stephen Parker is an Associate Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan. The major goal of his lab is to generate mechanistic knowledge about how disease susceptibility is encoded in the non-coding portion of the genome, with a focus on type 2 diabetes.

Projects

• Integrative Analysis of Multiomic Signatures and Cellular Function in Human Pancreas Across Developmental Timeline at Single-cell Spatial Resolution
• Determining the Intrinsic and Environmental Signal Contributing to Early T1D Progression
• Decoding the Cell-specific Impact of Epigenomic and Alternative Splicing Regulation during T1D Progression
• PanKbase: A Community Hub for Integrated Pancreas Knowledge

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=stephen+parker

Bio

Holger Russ is a HIRN New Investigator and recently became an Associate Professor at the University of Florida, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Diabetes Institute. His research focuses on using human stem cells to generate novel sources of beta cells for transplantation and to model human T1D in a dish.

HIRN Investigator Profile:

https://hirnetwork.org/profile-rholger

Projects

• Elucidating the Human Beta Cell Translatome in Health and Disease
• Understanding Thymic Epithelial and Hematopoietic Stem Cell-intrinsic Immune Abnormalities Driving T1D in Optimized HIS Mouse Models

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Holger+Russ

Projects

• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment

HIRN Webinar:

HIRN Webinar: “Update on Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Screening & Disease Modifying Therapies” – HIRN

Bio

Qizhi Tang is a Professor of Transplant Surgery and the Director, Transplantation Research Laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on translating knowledge on mechanisms of immune tolerance into novel therapeutics for treating autoimmune diabetes and preventing transplant rejection.

Projects

• Tregs as Vehicles for Targeted Delivery of Therapeutic Payload to Human Islets
• Stem Cell-based Modeling of Type 1 Diabetes to Accelerate Translation of Therapies
• iSTAR Tregs
• Therapeutic Targeting of the Human Islet Environment

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/qizhi-tang-28a0a412/

Bio

Dr. Golnaz Vahedi is currently an Associate Professor of Genetics (with tenure) at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Golnaz. She studied Electrical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Iran. As an independent investigator, she uses systems-based approaches to understand molecular details of gene regulation in the immune system. She is the recipient of a number of awards including the NIH Director’s Award (twice), NIAID K22 Career Transition Award (perfect score), Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Award, W. W. Smith Charitable Trust, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and Michael S. Brown New Investigator Research Award. She serves on the advisory boards of Cell Press journal Immunity and Science Immunology and is a standing member of GCAT study section.

Projects

• HPAP T1D: Human Pancreas Analysis Program for Type 1 Diabetes
• HPAP T2D: Human Pancreas Analysis Program
• Dissecting Transcriptomics and Epigenomic Signatures of Immune Cells in T1D

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Golnaz+Vahedi

HIRN Webinar:

Bio

Clive Wasserfall is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Florida. His research is focused on the immunopathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). His laboratory is involved in immune monitoring of human clinical trails to reverse or prevent T1D while searching for biomarkers of efficacy. Additionally, his laboratory houses the autoantibody screening core for the JDRF network for pancreas organ donors with diabetes (nPOD) program.

Projects

• Survival and Potential of Insulin-deficient Beta Cells in Type 1 Diabetes
• Single-Cell Analyses of Human Islets in T1D Using Highly Multiplexed Imaging

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Clive+H+Wasserfall

Bio

Bobbie-Jo Webb-Robertson is currently the technical group manager of the Applied Statistics and Computational Modeling group, as well as leading a body of research in the development and application of advanced statistical methods for MS-based omics analyses. Her research interests includes the development of statistical inference models, largely machine learning, with application to diverse biomarker discovery problems.

Projects

• Biomarkers of Beta Cell Stress in Type 1 Diabetes (BetaMarker)
• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment
• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Bobbie+Jo+Web+Robertson

Bio

Wenting Wu is an Assistant Research Professor of Medical & Molecular Genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine. Her research interests are in applying the genomics and bioinformatics tools into complex disease mechanism discovery and personalizing medicine, including transcriptome genomics, genomic variations/mutations, epigenetics, long noncoding RNAs etc.

Projects

• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment
• Integrated Stress Response in Human Islets during Early T1D

Investigator Contributed Resources:

https://resourcebrowser.hirnetwork.org/SearchResults/Results/?query=Wenting+wu

Projects

• Role of Pancreatic Elastase in Beta Cell Health, Autoimmunity and Type 1 Diabetes