Author: Layla Rouse, MS

In a commitment to advance HIRN’s mission, the selection process was guided by the following: prioritizing early-career investigators, proportionately augmenting membership across consortia, achieving synergy with consortium goals, and strengthening partner program relationships. In addition, qualifying grants with at least one year of remaining funding were prioritized, to allow time for meaningful participation in the consortia. 

• Juan Alvarez, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes (CMAD)
• Rafael Arrojo e Drigo, PhD, Vanderbilt University, Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC)
• Richard Benninger, PhD, University of Colorado, Consortium on Beta Cell Death & Survival (CBDS)
• Erica Cai, PhD, Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes (CMAD)
• Katie Coate, PhD, Vanderbilt University, Consortium on Beta Cell Death & Survival (CBDS)
• Dario De Jesus, PhD, University of Chicago, Consortium on Beta Cell Death & Survival (CBDS)
• Sangeeta Dhawan, PhD, City of Hope, Consortium on Beta Cell Death & Survival (CBDS)
• Nikki Farnsworth, PhD, Colorado School of Mines, Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC)
• Julia Panzer, PhD, City of Hope, Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC)
• Alberto Pugliese, MD, City of Hope, Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes (CMAD)
• Sarah Richardson, PhD, University of Exeter, Pancreas Knowledgebase Program (PanKbase)
• Melanie Shapiro, PhD, City of Hope, Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes (CMAD)
• Farooq Syed, PhD, City of Hope, Consortium on Beta Cell Death & Survival (CBDS)
• Peter Thompson, PhD, University of Manitoba, Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes (CMAD)

Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Ishahak and Dr. Liu Wang on their selection as HIRN Data Scholars Leveraging Multi-Modal Human Islet Research Network Knowledge (LINK) Award Recipients.   This recognition highlights their exceptional contributions to advancing multi-modal human islet research and reflects the innovative spirit at the heart of the HIRN LINK initiative.

Matthew Ishahak, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis Dr. Ishahak received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. His research focuses on developing in vitro models of human diseases using engineered organoids and applying state-of-the-art sequencing technologies to investigate mechanisms of disease progression.		Liu Wang, PhD, Mayo Clinic in Arizona Dr. Wang is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. His research focuses on creating novel models to study diabetes and metabolism and to identify therapeutic targets in metabolic diseases. Specifically, Dr. Wang studies the fundamental transcriptional and epigenetic dysregulation of beta cells that drives the pathogenesis of diabetes.
Project: “Inferring and Perturbing Gene Regulatory Networks During Diabetes Progression” Summary:  The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of how diabetes disrupts gene regulatory networks in pancreatic islets. By integrating single cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility data from healthy and diabetic patients, we will be able to define cell-state-specific gene regulatory networks for each pancreatic islet cell type and perform simulated genetic perturbation experiments to uncover transcription factors that drive diabetes progression. This work will result in new computational approaches utilizing patient data to elucidate the pathogenesis of islet dysfunction in diabetes.  Dr. Ishahak will be joining the Pancreas Knowledgebase Program (PanKbase).		Project:  “Multi-omics Integrative Analyses of Human Islets in Type 1 Diabetes” Summary: This project aims to identify type 1 diabetes-associated SNPs within cell type specific chromatin regions of human islet cells. By integrating GWAS with scATAC-seq, scRNA-seq, and single-cell multiomic data, and applying computational approaches such as transcription factor motif analysis and chromatin footprinting, we will uncover functionally relevant variants that alter transcriptional regulation. These findings will provide new insights into the cis-regulatory architecture of islet cells and reveal mechanisms by which noncoding variants contribute to T1D pathogenesis. Dr. Wang will be joining the Consortium on Beta Cell Death and Survival (CBDS).

Start Date: October 1, 2025

Six new awards were announced for the HIRN Consortium on Beta Cell Death and Survival (CBDS) (RFA-DK-23-007):

• Decoding the Cell-specific Impact of Epigenomic and Alternative Splicing Regulation during T1D Progression (U01 DK143498)
  Shuibing Chen*, PhD, Weill Cornel Medical Medicine
  Stephen Parker, PhD, University of Michigan

• The Role of Granular Acidification in the Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes (U01 DK143495)
  Thomas Delong*, PhD, University of Colorado Anschutz

• Interferon Signaling in the T1D Islet Microenvironment (U01 DK127786)
  Raghu G Mirmira*, MD, PhD, University of Chicago
  Carmella Evans-Molina, MD, PhD, Indiana University School of Medicine
  Ernesto Satoshi Nakayasu, PhD, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

• Driving next generation UPR inhibitory kinase inhibitors for T1D (U01 DK143500) 
  Feroz Papa*, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
  Dustin Maly, PhD, University of Washington

• Role of Pancreatic Elastase in Beta Cell Health, Autoimmunity and Type 1 Diabetes (U01 DK143494)
  Scott Oakes*, MD, University of Chicago
  Rohit Kulkarni, MD, PHD, Joslin Diabetes Center
  Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

• Beta Cell Death in Early Type 1 Diabetes Caused by Innate Immune Response to Inefficient RNA Editing (U01 DK143477)
  Klaus Kaestner*, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

* Denotes Contact PI