Grant: Foundation Grant

I am a world-leading expert on the insulin producing pancreatic islets of Langerhans. My work focuses on understanding the cellular mechanisms that control insulin secretion, and how these process is impaired in type 2 diabetes (T2D). The insulin-producing pancreatic islets of Langerhans are central to nearly all forms of diabetes, since these are destroyed through autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes (T1D; ~10% of cases) and are dysfunctional in T2D (~80% of cases). The result is an impaired regulation of metabolism that leads to an increased risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, and amputation. Diabetes affects nearly 3 million Canadians and costs our healthcare system $17 billion annually. My group is ideally positioned address key questions about insulin secretion in clinically relevant tissue samples from patients with and without diabetes. To achieve this I have established a human pancreas tissue program, allowing us to study clinically relevant tissue from organ donors with and without diabetes. My group combines this with molecular, imaging, and cell physiological approaches to study: biochemical connections linking cellular metabolism with insulin secretion; the organization of insulin release at the cell membrane; and processes that underlie insulin secretory dysfunction in human T2D islets and animal models of diabetes. My lab is making important inroads in these areas, leading to a better understanding of insulin secretory function in health and diabetes. This work is informing drug development and testing through partnerships with industry, and providing new insights into how secretory dysfunction in T2D may be reversed.