Beta cell replacement offers the opportunity to cure type 1 diabetes. However, due to a shortage of suitable organ donors, replacement beta cells are likely to be stem cell derived.
These cells will need to be protected from allogenic rejection and recurrence of autoimmunity. In this project we will test whether JAK inhibitors, that block cytokine signalling pathways, together with antibodies that target memory T cells, will prevent loss of grafted beta cells.
We will do this using the NOD mouse model of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes. Methods include islet grafting, flow cytometry, imaging and single cell RNA seq.
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