Welcome to New nPOD Investigators

nPOD is pleased to welcome 12 new investigators to the project. nPOD now supports over 40 international investigators engaged in efforts to better understand the disease process in type 1 diabetes and find ways to prevent and ultimately cure the disease.

Below are a list of recently approved projects. For a complete list of current nPOD supported science, please visit our website.

Project Name: Generation of tools to distinguish human pancreatic cell populations

PI: Douglas Melton, Ph.D., Harvard University
 
Project Name: E-cadherin mediates developmental effects on the proliferation and the function of ß-cells in the islet of Langerhans

PI: Rudy Leibel, M.D. Columbia University
Co-PI: Nao Wakae, M. Phil. Columbia University
 
Project Name: Microangiopathy in diabetic bone marrow

PI: Paolo Madeddu, M. D., University of Bristol, UK
Co-PI: Costanza Emanueli, Ph.D., University of Bristol, UK
 
Project Name: Peri-capsular basement membrane degradation during leukocyte penetration into the pancreatic islet during development of human type 1 diabetes

PI: Lydia Sorokin, Ph.D., University of Muenster, Germany
Co-PI: Eva Korpos, Ph.D., University of Muenster, Germany
 
Project Name: Characterization of the nPOD samples virome by high throughput DNA sequencing

PI: John Todd, Ph.D., University of Cambridge, UK
Co-PI: Vincent Plagnol, Ph.D., University College London Genetics Institute, UK
Co-PI: Herbert ‘Skip’ Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine

Welcome to new nPOD staff

Please join us in welcoming Carmen Leah Retrum to the JDRF nPOD project as Program Assistant. Some of you may have already heard from her by phone or by email, but we would like to formally introduce her. Carmen will support the staff members in the Administrative Core and assist with daily logistics for the project. She is a recent graduate from the University of Florida, with a B.S. in Psychology and an M.S. in Health Education & Behavior. During her time at UF, Carmen was also a competitive swimmer, earning 12 All-American honors and an individual national championship. Welcome, Carmen!

nPOD Featured on Cover of JDRF'sCountdown

nPOD was recently featured in JDRF's Countdown Magazine. The article provides an excellent overview of the JDRF's vision for the project and describes how it has grown from a vision by George Eisenbarth, M.D., Ph.D., to a pilot project, to a growing research collaborative under the leadership of Mark Atkinson, Ph.D. Click here to download the entire article.