Islet Biology and Inflammation
Faculty

Jason Collier, PhD
Research Focus
The goal of this laboratory is to understand the basic mechanisms regulating inflammation, proliferation, and insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells. Mapping out the signaling pathways that reduce proliferation and impair insulin secretion are relevant to the eventual onset of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
About this Lab
The laboratory focuses on understanding the inflammatory processes relevant to the
eventual onset of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, with emphasis on pancreatic
beta-cells. In the lab, researchers work on elucidating the transcriptional mechanism(s)
of cytokine responsive genes has evolved into projects that investigate how islet
beta-cells influence leukocytic recruitment and activity within the exocrine and endocrine
pancreas, and seek to understand intracellular signaling pathways regulating adaptive
changes in antigen presentation, proliferation, insulin secretion, immune cell recruitment,
and cellular viability.
Approaches are truly interdisciplinary, involving bioanalytical mass spectrometry,
cell culture models, proliferation and transcriptional assays, fluorescence microscopy,
immunological and enzymatic assays, and novel transgenic animal models.