Awards

HIRN: Data Scholars LINK Initiative

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

Awards HIRN: Data Scholars LINK Initiative New Awards from RFA-DK-23-007: HIRN Consortium on Beta Cell Death and Survival (CBDS) New Consortium: Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Diabetes New Consortium: Pancreas Knowledgebase Program (PanKbase) NIH NIDDK New Investigator Gateway Award Recipients (Nov 2023) HIRN 2023 Trainee Scholarship Recipients New Awards from RFA-22-009: HIRN Consortium on Targeting and Regeneration (CTAR) NIH NIDDK New Investigator Gateway Award Recipients (May 2023) New Awards from RFA-21-017: High-Resolution Exploration of the Human Islet Tissue Environment (HPAC) HIRN 2022 Poster Award Recipients HIRN 2022 Trainee Scholarship Recipient HIRN Catalyst Award Recipients HIRN 2021 Trainee Scholarship Recipients HIRN 2020 Trainee Scholarship Recipients New Awards from RFA-19-024: Discovery of Early Type 1 Diabetes Disease Processes in the Human Pancreas (CBDS) NIH NIDDK New Investigator Gateway Award Recipients (2020) New Awards: RFA-DK-18-013: HIRN Consortium on Modeling Autoimmune Interactions (CMAI) New Awards: RFA-DK-18-011: HIRN Consortium on Human Islet Biomimetics (CHIB) New Awards from RFA-18-014: HIRN Consortium on Targeting and Regeneration (CTAR) New Award: RFA-DK-18-021: Discovery of Early Type 1 Diabetes Disease Biomarkers in the Human Pancreas (CBDS) New Awards: RFA-DK-17-022: High-Resolution Exploration of the Human Islet Tissue Environment (HPAC) HIRN 2018 New Investigator Award Recipients New Awards: RFA-DK-17-003: Therapeutic Targeting of the Human Islet Environment (UC4) RFA-DK-17-004: Competitive Collaborative Projects for Human Islet Biology (UC4) New HPAP Consortium – October 2016 New CMAI Award – October 2016 Three New HIRN CBDS Awards – Oct 2015
Follow
×

Follow

us on our social networks.