nPOD KQ group: Translation studies to advance T1D therapies
This key question group tackles a critical aspiration of nPOD since its inception: How can we foster translational studies to advance immunotherapies (e.g., CAR-Tregs), b-cell regeneration/surrogate therapies, or other interventions for T1D? The overall goal of this group is to leverage live tissue platforms to functionally test candidate therapeutics.
nPOD has established human pancreatic slices as one such platform, yet other platform exist or may be developed and investigators in this collaborative group should include multiple approaches, as needed, and when possible combine. Such platforms can be used to model T1D autoimmunity, viral infections, endocrine-exocrine crosstalk, b-cell transdifferentiation and regeneration, in generally speaking investigate mechanism of disease and potential impact of interventions.
The nPOD translational studies group is thus tasked with identifying:
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(a) Knowledge gaps in our understanding of the human pancreas and the etiology of the disease.
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(b) Resources/technologies that need to be developed to that end.
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(c) Ways to facilitate those goals capitalizing on nPOD’s capabilities to collect/curate/distribute tissues, and to assist with studies to address these questions.
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(d) Develop synergies among investigators utilizing and developing live tissue platforms, potentially leading to joint grant applications.
Leaders
Dr. Alberto Pugliese
City of Hope’s Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute, USA
Dr. Alberto Pugliese is the Samuel Rahbar Endowed Chair in Diabetes & Drug Discovery Chair and Professor, Department of Diabetes Immunology; Director, The Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes at City of Hope’s Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute. As a co-executive director of nPOD, he facilitated the development of the pancreatic tissue slicing platform at nPOD. His research interests include understanding the genetic and cellular mechanisms that regulate immunological self-tolerance, specifically targeting molecules involved in diabetes. Dr. Pugliese is a champion of collaboration and team-science approaches, recognized by the Helmsley Charitable Trust with the George S. Eisenbarth nPOD Award for Team Science.
Dr. Juan Dominguez-Bendala
University of Miami, USA
Dr. Juan Dominguez-Bendala is a professor of Surgery and Cell Biology at the Diabetes Research Institute of the University of Miami. The human pancreatic slice platform has been instrumental in advancing his research on pancreatic b-cell regeneration. In this context, his team has contributed seminal developments in long-term pancreatic slice culture, longitudinal, and functional assays. He is current Chair of the Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC) of the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN)’s steering committee and the recipient of an Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP). Dr. Dominguez-Bendala ‘s research sits at the crossroads between all these converging initiatives to foster team science in the T1D space.