Multiomic investigation of the diabetic islet microenvironment and islet vascularized extracellular matrix organoids

Diabetes is a disease that impacts at least 425 million people worldwide and patients with diabetes account for 25% of all U.S. healthcare spending. A failure to produce adequate insulin due to pancreatic beta-cell failure is at the heart of both type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) pathophysiology. Despite decades of research using mouse models, there remain large gaps in knowledge about human islet biology and pathophysiology. Currently, transplanting the whole pancreas is the only viable option to achieve insulin independence in the most severely affected patients.

This project’s highly collaborative, multi-disciplinary team is uniquely poised to fill this knowledge gap and tackle fundamental questions in islet biology with cutting-edge technologies applied to the study of human pancreas tissue. This project will leverage multi-faceted and innovative mass spectrometry (MS) technologies for deep multiomic analysis of the human pancreatic islet microenvironment. The in-depth characterization of biomolecular changes in the islet microenvironment in diabetes will generate new knowledge and improve our understanding of key molecular components for the increased survival and efficacy of islet-analogues for therapeutic transplantation.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Lingjun Li, professor of pharmacy and chemistry

CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS

Dawn Davis, professor of medicine

Jon Odorico, professor of surgery