News

When mice with atopic dermatitis—a common type of allergic skin inflammation—are treated with drugs that target the immune system, their thickened, itchy skin generally heals quickly.

Martin Thelin, MD PhD a clinical fellow in the Anderson Lab, has been awarded a JDRF Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship in “Gaining insight into type 1 diabetes pathogenesis through STAT gain of function”. The fellowship is designed to attract qualified and promising health scientists, provide an opportunity to receive full-time research training, and assist these promising individuals in transitioning from a fellowship to an independent faculty-level position.

The Diabetes Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Anderson, MD, PhD as Director, after serving in an interim capacity since December 2020. Dr. Anderson joined the UCSF faculty in 2003, and is the Robert Friend and Michelle M. Friend Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research. A leading expert in the understanding of autoimmune diseases and their underpinnings, Dr. Anderson cares for adult patients with type 1 diabetes or other autoimmune endocrine diseases.

Emilie Ronin PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Tang lab, has been awarded a JDRF Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship in "Engineering regulatory T cells for type 1 diabetes immunotherapy." The fellowship is designed to attract qualified and promising health scientists, to provide an opportunity to receive full time research training, and to assist these promising individuals in transitioning from a fellowship to an independent faculty-level position.

The American Association of Immunologists proudly announced the 2022 recipients of AAI Awards for Outstanding Research and Career Achievements, including the AAI-Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research to Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, "for significant, sustained achievement in immunology research pertinent to human disease pathogenesis, prevention, or therapy."

The second cohort of scientists to be named Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigators have been announced, including Mark Anderson, MD, PhD and Michael McManus, PhD, who will receive $1 million in unrestricted gift funds over a nonrenewable 5-year term, beginning in March.

The Annual Grodsky award, supported by Diabetes Center at UCSF, was presented at the Western Region Islet Study Group (WRISG) meeting this year to Steve Kahn, MB, ChB, Director of University of Washington Diabetes Research Center, whose talk was “Clinical Observations and Science: Including Some Lessons Gerry Taught Me.” Present with Gerold Grodsky and Steve Kahn was Lori Sussel, Director of Basic and Translational Research at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at University of Colorado.

Arabella Young PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in Bluestone lab, was recently named a UC President's Lindau Nobel Meeting Fellow for 2021—along with four other esteemed peers from UCSF, out of thirty students across all ten UC Campuses—who were nominated based on demonstrated excellence and engagement in their field of research, enthusiastic support from advisers and mentors, and evidence of their commitment to interdisciplinary scientific work.

The FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee has recommended for approval Teplizumab, a humanized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody shown in a randomized clinical trial to delay development of type 1 diabetes in children as young as age 8 years after a single 14-day course of the drug.

Adélaïde Bernard, a graduate student in the Metabolic Biology program at UC Berkeley at Vaisse lab in Diabetes Center, was awarded first place in the 2021 Berkeley Grad Slam for her presentation titled, "Hungry Unicorns: How Antennas in Your Neurons Control Appetite," also placing third in the UC wide