The first paper of the Engin Lab is out in Cell Metabolism!

We are very excited that our lab’s first research article “Beta cell dedifferentiation induced by IRE1α deletion prevents type 1 diabetes” is now published in Cell Metabolism.

Dr. Engin commented, “Individuals who are at high risk for T1D can be identified. They have autoantibodies in their serum, meaning we can actually tell who is going to develop Type 1 diabetes within a couple of years. But there’s not much to do for clinicians at this stage, because there’s no cure for Type 1 diabetes.”

Describing her research, she explained, “We’ve found a critical window where de-differentiation helps greatly reduce the immune cell diabetogenic activity.

She continued, “if cells that are victims of an autoimmune attack are reprogrammed to become less functional and less mature during early phases of disease development, there might be an opportunity to prevent the disease progression.”

Read the University of Wisconsin News here.