UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence

08/05/2026

One of the greatest challenges facing stem cell-derived islet transplantation is helping transplanted cells survive long-term without lifelong immune-suppressing medications. A one-year Breakthrough T1D grant awarded to the laboratory of Michael Brehm, PhD, will help address a major obstacle to that goal.

Dr. Brehm and longtime collaborator Leonard Shultz, PhD, of The Jackson Laboratory will evaluate novel humanized mouse models designed to better mimic the human immune response to biomaterials used to protect transplanted islets.

Transplantation of islets from deceased donors is an FDA-approved treatment for some people with type 1 diabetes. Stem cell-derived islets are being tested as a more widely available source of replacement insulin-producing cells.

One strategy is placing the cells inside protective devices made from biomaterials that allow oxygen, nutrients, glucose and insulin to pass through while shielding from immune attack.

The body can recognize these materials as foreign and surround them with scar tissue, reducing islet survival and function.

If successful, the project could provide better preclinical models for evaluating encapsulation technologies before human trials and help accelerate safer, more durable cell replacement therapies for people living with type 1 diabetes.

07/28/2026

A new review in Stem Cell Report, co-authored by Michael Brehm, PhD, Co-Director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence at UMass Chan Medical School, outlines scientific, manufacturing, and regulatory considerations that can help guide the safe development of stem cell-derived islet therapies.

“The field is advancing rapidly, and with that progress comes the responsibility to ensure these therapies are developed with the highest standards for safety and quality,” said Dr. Brehm. “This review offers guidance on generating the evidence needed to move promising therapies from the laboratory into well-designed clinical trials.”

The article addresses the major scientific, manufacturing and regulatory questions involved in advancing stem cell-derived islet therapies, including the selection of appropriate laboratory and animal models, evaluation of safety risks, development of scalable and consistent manufacturing processes, and quality-control testing to confirm each product’s identity, purity, safety and biological function.

https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/umass-diabetes-news/2026/07/brehm-t1d

A review article in Stem Cell Reports, co-authored by Michael Brehm, PhD, Co-Director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence, outlines scientific, manufacturing, and regulatory considerations that can help guide the safe development of stem cell-derived islet therapies.

07/24/2026

Congratulations to René Maehr, PhD, who was awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Breakthrough T1D funding to develop novel ways to protect stem cell-derived islets from autoimmune attack. Together with a recent publication providing new insights into gene regulation, the Maehr lab is working to advance strategies to engineer safer, more durable stem cell therapies toward our goal of a curative treatment for people living with type 1 diabetes. https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/umass-diabetes-news/2026/07/maehr-research/

07/14/2026

Please join us in welcoming Julie Carrier, MS, CCLS, the new Child Life Specialist in the UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center Diabetes Clinic!

“I love getting the opportunity to bring play and joy into the clinic setting. Fostering an inclusive and welcoming space in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team makes the clinic a wonderful place to be for patients, staff and families.”

Learn more about Julie and how Child Life Specialists helps in diabetes care at:
https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/diabetes-care/child-care-specialist/

UMass Memorial Medical Center UMass Memorial Health

07/09/2026

A new study published in Advanced Science highlights an RNA-based approach designed to calm the immune response that drives autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes.

Researchers are working to stop the autoimmune attack in without weakening the entire immune system. The approach uses messenger RNA, or mRNA, packaged in tiny fat-like particles called lipid nanoparticles, to help teach the immune system to tolerate specific disease-related targets.

The laboratory of Michael Brehm, PhD, Harvey A. Shultz Chair in Diabetes and co-director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence at UMass Chan Medical School, contributed specialized humanized mouse models of type 1 diabetes to help test whether the therapy could reduce the immune attack that leads to diabetes. Animals that received the therapy were largely protected from developing high blood sugar, while most untreated animals developed diabetes.

Although this remains early-stage research, the results are encouraging because they suggest targeted immune retraining may be possible in a model of type 1 diabetes.

The work connects to the mission of both the UMass Chan Medical School Diabetes Center of Excellence and the Breakthrough T1D Barbara Dewey Cammett Center of Excellence in New England, which are focused on developing beta cell replacement therapies that can survive immune attack and potentially restore insulin production for people living with type 1 diabetes.

07/08/2026

Congratulations to Pranjali Sonis, MD and Daleep Kumar, MD who graduated from our Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Fellowship, and continue toward board certification in endocrinology. Dr. Sonis is joining Dartmouth Health in Nashua, NH. Dr. Kumar is considering his next opportunity.

Congrats to Dr. Maritza Jerome, the first graduate of the Obesity Medicine Fellowship which launched last year at UMass Chan Medical School. She will join the department as a faculty member in October.

(Photos) Drs. Sonis & Kumar with Samir Malkani, MD, Clinical Chief, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism & Madona Azar, MD, Associate Professor and Director, Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Fellowship Program

Dr. Jerome with Metabolic Weight Loss Program Director Nina Rosano, MD; Obesity Medicine Fellowship Program Director Amin Sabet, MD (far right); Anne Kiraithe, DNP, FNP-C, Associate Professor at the UMass Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing; nurse practitioner Elizabeth DiGangi, CNP (far left); and Dr. Malkani.

07/07/2026

A clinical research poster by Dr. Andrew Liu, a second-year internal medicine resident; Dr. Jason Core, MD, who is completing his residency at UMass Memorial Medical Center before beginning an endocrinology fellowship at UCLA; and endocrinologist Dr. Mark O’Connor, earned second place at the Resident and Fellows Poster Day at UMass Chan Medical School.

Dr. Liu presented the poster at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in New Orleans. The project examined how often adults with newly diagnosed diabetes are screened for autoimmune diabetes, including latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA). Sometimes called Type 1.5 diabetes, LADA shares features of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. It’s an autoimmune form of diabetes affecting the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas; however, the loss of insulin production usually progresses more slowly, over months to years. Since LADA usually develops after age 30 and the pancreas may still produce some insulin at first, it is often mistaken for Type 2 diabetes.

Using the EPIC medical records database, which represents approximately 300 million patients, the team analyzed more than 8 million people over age 30 who were newly diagnosed with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes between 2020 and 2025.

They looked at rates of GAD antibody testing, a blood test that can help identify autoimmune diabetes, and antibody positivity, stratified by age, BMI, A1c, race and ethnicity.

Their findings suggest that autoimmune diabetes may be under-screened in some adults, particularly older patients. Although screening rates decreased with age, antibody positivity rates remained relatively consistent in older groups. Their data also showed that screening was more common in younger patients, those with lower BMI, and those with higher A1c.

The research highlights the importance of recognizing that not all adult-onset diabetes is easily categorized. More consistent screening may help clinicians identify patients whose diabetes has an autoimmune component and guide care as their insulin production changes over time.

07/07/2026

Nevin Witman, PhD, a longtime collaborator of Michael Brehm, PhD, and the Diabetes Center of Excellence (DCOE) at UMass Chan Medical School, co-authored a review article published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, one of the world's leading biotechnology journals, examining the future of mRNA medicine. It explores research areas that intersect with ongoing studies in the Brehm lab, including work by research associate Zahra Khazal.

The article highlights a broad range of emerging applications, including enzyme replacement therapies for rare genetic disorders, personalized cancer vaccines, genome-editing treatments, and immune-cell engineering strategies.

It provides a high-level look at a rapidly evolving field that is helping shape the future of biotechnology and translational medicine. It also reflects the value of collaborations that connect academic research with emerging therapeutic approaches aimed at improving patient care.

07/03/2026

Lei Huang, PhD, an instructor in the laboratory of Dr. Yong-Xu Wang, led a newly published study in Science Advances identifying a fat-derived protein that may help improve blood sugar control, energy use, and broader cardiometabolic health. The study focuses on adipose-secreted signaling protein (Adissp) which helped improve glucose control and increase energy expenditure in white fat in mouse models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Adissp also helped activate a heat-producing program in white fat, similar to some of the beneficial metabolic effects associated with brown fat and cold exposure.

The research study included contributions from Drs. Roger Davis, Michael Czech, Qingbo Chen, and others at UMass Chan Medical School. It adds to a growing body of research showing that fat tissue is not simply passive storage, but an active organ that can send signals affecting metabolism throughout the body.

07/02/2026

Two graduate students presented their research to scientists & lab members at UMass Chan Medical School .

Mai Ceesay, a PhD student in the laboratories of Tammy Nguyen, MD, PhD, and Silvia Corvera, MD, showed data exploring how human fat tissue may influence the immune cells that live within it. Her work focuses on adipose tissue macrophages — immune cells found in fat tissue that may contribute to chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes.

Nijihah Aziz, a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Czech, is exploring how human thermogenic fat cells may influence metabolic health. Her work focuses on brown and beige fat cells, which can burn energy through heat production, and on molecular pathways that regulate this process. Czech lab research, in collaboration with the Corvera lab, points to an important idea: thermogenic fat biology may offer new insight into the connections among obesity, fatty liver disease, and diabetes.