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Happy Holidays from nPOD
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Investigator Spotlight: Sally Kent, Ph.D.
 Institution: Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
nPOD Project: Investigation of B cells in human islets and pancreatic lymph nodes in type 1 diabetes
As one of nPOD's most active investigators and the author of a number of publications in human type 1 diabetes, Dr. Kent utilizes nPOD tissues to answer fundamental immunological questions about type 1 diabetes in humans. She seeks to shed light on the inflammatory process in the lymph nodes draining the pancreas; specifically, to study the cells infiltrating the pancreas that are responsible for destroying insulin producing islet cells.
Dr. Kent is interested in autoantigen reactive B cells in the lymph nodes, and in defining their contributions to the inflammatory process. Dr. Kent is also interested in the T-cell response in humans and its role in beta cell destruction. She examines pancreatic draining lymph nodes in an effort to identify local antigens and to better understand how the autoimmune response is amplified in type I diabetes. "Until nPOD, it was very difficult to get type 1 tissue for research," says Dr. Kent. "The nPOD network's continued efforts to actively seek tissues is the only way we will better understand the autoimmune process in individuals with type 1 diabetes."
To learn more about Dr. Kent's work, please visit her online in the Hafler Laboratory.
Type 1 diabetes-related research interests:
- Regulatory NKT cell function in human Type 1 diabetes in the periphery and pancreatic draining lymph nodes.
- Antigenic targets of human autoantigen reactive T cells and regulation of these cells in Type 1 diabetes in the periphery and from pancreatic draining lymph nodes.
- Frequency and the functional phenotype of autoreactive B cells in the pancreatic draining lymph nodes of type 1 diabetic subjects.
- Memory autoreactive T cells and linkage with serum autoantibodies in the periphery of individuals at-risk for type 1 diabetes.
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nPOD welcomes new scientific investigators
| Investigator |
Affiliation |
Project Area |
| Jerry Nepom |
Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason |
Immunology |
| Al Powers |
Vanderbilt University |
Islet and Pancreas Pathology |
Eric Triplett and Martha Campbell-Thompson |
University of Florida |
Disease Etiology |
| Ake Sjoholm |
Karolinska Institutet |
Disease Etiology |
nPOD hosts conference, scientific update
Leading type 1 diabetes investigators from around the world joined nPOD project partners, along with representatives from the Juvenile  Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for nPOD’s 2nd Annual Conference and Scientific Update on October 19-20, 2008 in Washington, DC. Susan Bonner-Weir, Ph.D., Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard University, delivered the keynote address entitled, “Of mice and man: what we know, what we need to learn.” During her talk, Bonner-Weir compared and contrasted mouse vs. human diabetes pathogenesis, emphasizing the differences in beta cell biology. These differences, Bonner-Weir noted, underscore the importance of nPOD tissues for scientists who study human beta cells, particularly given the opportunity to employ newly available technologies in order to gain an understanding of the pathophysiology of human type 1 diabetes. Project reports by other investigators, including Dale Greiner, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, and Roberto Gianani, M.D., University of Colorado, drew into question long standing dogmas about disease etiology and progression. For more information about the annual conference, please contact nPOD.
In our next edition of the nPOD e-newsletter
Interested in learning more about nPOD?
Please contact the nPOD coordinator via email at npod@pathology.ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 846-3965. |
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