How human insulin-producing islets form and can be made stronger
Official title: Spatiotemporal regulation of human islet organogenesis
Funded at Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center · NIH-11294143 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project aims to grow more uniform, scalable insulin-producing cell clusters from human stem cells and help them avoid immune attack for adults with brittle type 1 diabetes.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Torrance, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2024 |
| Project end | February 28, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $614,380 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DK136888-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11294143 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults (21+) with brittle type 1 diabetes who might be candidates for islet replacement or who are willing to donate cells or samples for research.
✕Less likely to help
People with type 2 diabetes, children under 21, or those seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this lab-focused work.
What this research studies
The team uses adult human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to make clusters of insulin-producing islet cells and studies how they form over time. They will select for a marker called FXYD2 that seems to identify better-functioning cells and use a new "giant islet" (GiSLETs) method to produce larger, more consistent batches. The researchers will also add immune-protective changes such as PD-L1 to reduce immune rejection, which is especially important for type 1 diabetes. Work will combine experiments on human-derived cells and laboratory models to optimize function, scale-up, and immune protection.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could enable large-scale, immune-protected islet cell products that reduce or replace the need for insulin in people with brittle type 1 diabetes.
How similar studies have gone: Other lab studies have produced beta-like cells from stem cells and early immune-evasion strategies like PD-L1 look promising, but durable, large-scale success in people has not yet been established.
Where this research is happening
-
Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Torrance, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Yoshihara, Eiji — Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Yoshihara, Eiji
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.