High-Resolution Exploration of the Human Islet Tissue Environment [HIRN Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC)]

May 2021 Council

Lead Division/Office

DEM

Point(s) of Contact

Xujing Wang, Ph.D.

Executive Summary

There is an on-going need to support teams of investigators to propose studies that will contribute to a higher resolution understanding of the organization of the human pancreatic tissue environment by describing the composition and function of important components of the pancreatic islet and peri-islet tissue architecture, the cell-cell relationships and means of communications used by cell types and cell subtypes within the pancreatic tissue ecosystem, and the contribution of adjacent tissues to islet cell function and dysfunction. Successful projects will integrate the Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC) that is part of the Human Islet Research Network or HIRN. HIRN's overall mission is to support innovative and collaborative translational research to understand how human beta cells are lost in T1D, and to find innovative strategies to protect and replace functional beta cell mass in humans. New studies should have a primary focus on increasing our understanding of human tissue structure and function, and human disease biology, as opposed to exploring the biology specific to any animal models.