Fields of Research

• Identifying developmental cues provided by myeloid immune cells and vascular endothelia to pancreatic progenitors;
•  Exploiting these cues for pancreatic islet cell regeneration in injury models.
• Engineering islet-like tissue microenvironments to enhance transplant engraftment in vivo
• Modeling diabetogenic insults and therapies ex vivo in organotypic cultures.

Research Summary

Discovering regenerative signals delivered by blood vessels and myeloid immune cells to pancreatic endocrine cell types. Using animal models, our previous research has identfied subsets of vasculogenic endothelial progenitors and inflammatory myeloid cells required for mainteinance of islet endocrine function and regeneration after injury. Current work is focused on newly discovered mechanisms of activation of adenosine- and IGF-dependent pro-regenerative pathways, as well as on pharmacologic interventions that could boost these pathways in tissue repair settings.

Research Statement

Our research aims to discover tissue regenerative signals provided by pro-repair immune cells and blood vessels. Our goal is to exploit these signals to boost regeneration of injured pancreatic islet cells in vivo, expand the rare pool of stem cell-derived islet progenitors, and deliver these signals to transplant sites to support survival and function of pancreatic islet tissue. We are further working at modeling islet tissue as functional micro-organs in a dish, so to monitor how islet cells get injured and whether they can recover in response to regenerative interventions. This line of studies has a direct impact on islet cell replacement strategies as treatment for patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Awards and Honors

Career Development Award from the JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Mary Jane Kugel Award for service in the JDRF Medical Science Review Committee

Serving on multiple scientific review panels for NIH (NIDDK; NHLBI; NGMI).

Member, JDRF Medical Science Review Committee (MSRC),

Replacement & Regeneration Review Committee.

Member, American Heart Association Review Committee (MSRC).

Faculty Mentor & Thesis Advisor for Graduate Students in the Department of Pharmacology (UW, Seattle, WA).

Organizing Committee Member, Beta Cell Replacement, Annual Symposium 2015 (UW, Seattle, WA).

Search Committee Member for the recruitment of new faculty in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle.

Reviewer for the following scientific journals:

Blood, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Cell Transplantation; Endocrinology; Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism; Diabetes; Diabetologia; Nature Medicine.