Barak Blum
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Physiology
When the body becomes resistant to insulin, as happens in obesity or pregnancy, the pancreas has to make more insulin. It does this through islets of Langerhans, small clusters of hormone-producing cells.
- Fields
Physiology
Biology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
islets of Langerhans
pancreatic islets
beta cells
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2029
What they work on
- Test the hypothesis that reducing Robo2 receptors in beta cells, the pancreas's insulin-making cells, is essential for islets of Langerhans to expand successfully when insulin demand rises.
- Determine how reduced Robo2 in beta cells leads to dysregulation of neighboring alpha cells, which make the hormone glucagon, inside the islet.
- Test the hypothesis that Slit-Robo signaling between the pancreatic stroma, the supporting tissue around islets, and hormone-producing cells contributes to compensatory islet expansion.
More about the research
Islets can grow to meet the extra demand, and whether they succeed largely decides whether a person develops type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes. Islets that adapt well keep their three-dimensional structure, their cell-to-cell communication, and their local control of hormone release. Failed expansion, disordered islet structure and poorly controlled hormone release are hallmarks of diabetes. Efforts to fix this by making beta cells (the insulin-producing cells) divide more have not worked well enough. Those efforts ignore the other ways the tissue reorganizes.
Why it matters
People with obesity, insulin resistance or pregnancy-related insulin demand are at risk of type 2 or gestational diabetes when their islets fail to adapt. Understanding how Robo receptors control islet expansion could, in the future, point to ways of promoting healthy islet growth and proper hormone control. The stated aim is to help prevent diabetes and restore correct blood-sugar regulation in people who have it.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jonathan Campbell
Duke University, NC·Physiology
Test whether pericytes, cells lining blood vessels, are the main GIP receptor (GIPR)-expressing cells in fat tissue, using mouse models that mark and lineage-trace GIPR-positive cells over time.
Bethany Cummings
University of California-Davis, CA·Physiology
Compare liver and islet responses to injected glucagon in obese mice and after dietary or bariatric-surgery weight loss, to test whether α-cell signaling shifts from the liver to insulin secretion.
Hirotake Komatsu
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Biomedical Engineering
Build human islet organoids about 5 mm thick by layering parylene microcapillary mesh that carries oxygen from flowing culture medium, testing whether a dynamic culture system keeps the organoid core alive past the usual diffusion limit.
The school
University of Wisconsin-Madison: 91 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 854 research doctorates a year.
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