Our Research
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of beta cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. As beta cells are responsible for secreting insulin, a hormone that lowers glucose, their destruction leads to elevated blood glucose levels. While insulin therapy has saved millions of lives worldwide, it is not a cure as it requires daily and lifelong injections that are burdensome for patients and do not accurately regulate blood glucose.
Transplantation of donor islets can restore beta cell mass and lead to long-term glycemic control, but this approach is limited by the scarcity of donor organs.
We employ human pluripotent stem cells to develop beta cells in a dish. This platform allows the study beta cell development in health and in T1D, and generation of a renewable cell source for beta cell replacement therapy to treat T1D.
Selected Publications:
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Sun, X., Aghazadeh, Y., Nunes, S.S. Isolation of ready-made microvessels and its applications in regenerative medicine. Nat Protoc 2022;17(12):2721-2738.
Aghazadeh, Y., Sarangi, F., Poon, F., Nkennor, B., Nunes, S.S., Nostro, M.C. GP2-enriched pancreatic progenitors generate functional beta cells in vivo and eliminate the risk of teratoma formation. Stem Cell Reports 2022;17(4):964-978.
Aghazadeh, Y., Poon, F., Sarangi, F., Wong, F.T.M., Khan, S.T., Sun, X., Hatkar, R., Cox, B.J., Nunes, S.S., Nostro, M.C. Microvessels support engraftment and functionality of human islets and hESC-derived pancreatic progenitors in diabetes models. Cell Stem Cell 2021; 28(11): 1936-1949.e8.
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Aghazadeh Y., Khan, S.T., Nkennor, B., Nunes, S.S. Cell-based therapies for vascular regeneration: past, present, and future. Pharmacol Ther 2021; 107976.
Altalhi, W., Hatkar, R., Hoying, J.B., Aghazadeh, Y., Nunes, S.S. Type I diabetes delays perfusion and engraftment of 3D constructs by impinging on angiogenesis. Cell Mol Bioeng 2019; 12 (5):443-454.
Cogger, K.F., Sinha, A., Sarangi, F., McGaugh, E.C., Saunders, D., Dorell, C., Mejia-Guerrero, S.,Aghazadeh, Y., Rourke, J.L., Screaton, R.L., Grompe, M., Streeter, P.R., Brissova, M., Kislinger, T., Nostro, M.C., Glycoprotein 2 is a specific cell surface marker of human pancreatic progenitors. Nat Commun 2017;8(1):331.
Aghazadeh Y., Nostro, M.C. Cell therapy for type 1 diabetes: current and future strategies. Curr Diab Rep. 2017;17(6):37.
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To reach more visit : Google Scholar/ Yasaman Aghazadeh