Avnesh Thakor

Avnesh S. Thakor, MD PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Division of Pediatric Radiology; Director of Interventional Radiology Innovation at Stanford (IRIS), Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: Dr. Thakor’s research program is focused on (i) novel strategies to regenerate the pancreas and (ii) the developmental biology of the pancreas. In particular, he is developing new ways to deliver and home mesenchymal stem cells to the pancreas using locoregional strategies combined with imaging guidance. In addition, Dr. Thakor is assessing the development and programming of pancreatic islets, during normal and complicated pregnancies, especially with respect to the islet microcirculation. Understanding how the islet microcirculation develops prenatally in the fetus, and how it evolves and changes postnatally in the newborn child, will help in the understanding of why some children develop diabetes. Based on this information, he seeks to develop new molecular imaging techniques which can be clinically translated to identify high risk children and novel therapeutic interventions which could prevent or reverse deleterious programming of the pancreas before the clinical presentation of diabetes. Together with several members of SDRC and Islet Core, Dr. Thakor is has worked to establish a human islet auto-transplant program at Stanford (SPIRIT program) with other SDRC members.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC Members in BOLD):

  1. Razavi M, Primavera R, Kevadiya BD, Wang J, Buchwald P, Thakor AS. A Collagen Based Cryogel Bioscaffold that Generates Oxygen for Islet Transplantation. Adv Funct Mater. 2020 Apr 14;30(15):1902463. doi: 10.1002/adfm.201902463. PMID: 33071709; PMCID: PMC7567341. [Cites SDRC support] 

  2. Ren G, Rezaee M, Razavi M, Taysir A, Wang J, Thakor AS. Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells rescue the function of islets transplanted in sub-therapeutic numbers via their angiogenic properties. Cell Tissue Res. 2019 Jun;376(3):353-364. doi: 10.1007/s00441-019-02997-w. PMID: 30707291; PMCID: PMC6615057. [Cites SDRC support] 

  3. Razavi M, Zheng F, Telichko A, Ullah M, Dahl J, Thakor AS. Effect of Pulsed Focused Ultrasound on the Native Pancreas. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2020 Mar; 46(3): 630-638. PMID: 31882169; PMCID: PMC7010559. [Cites SDRC support]  

  4. Primavera R, Kevadiya BD, Swaminathan G, Wilson RJ, De Pascale A, Decuzzi P, Thakor AS. Emerging Nano- and Micro-Technologies Used in the Treatment of Type-1 Diabetes. Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Apr 20;10(4):789. doi: 10.3390/nano10040789. PMID: 32325974; PMCID: PMC7221526. [Cites SDRC support] 

  5. Razavi M, Zheng F, Telichko A, Wang J, Ren G, Dahl J, Thakor AS. Improving the Function and Engraftment of Transplanted Pancreatic Islets Using Pulsed Focused Ultrasound Therapy. Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 16;9(1):13416. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49933-0. PMID: 31527773; PMCID: PMC6746980. 

  6. Ganguly A, Swaminathan G, Garcia-Marques F, Regmi S, Yarani R, Primavera R, Chetty S, Bermudez A, Pitteri SJ, Thakor AS. Integrated transcriptome-proteome analyses of human stem cells reveal source-dependent differences in their regenerative signature. Stem Cell Reports. 2023 Jan 10;18(1):190-204. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2022.11.006. Epub 2022 Dec 8. PMID: 36493779; PMCID: PMC9860079. 

  7. Primavera R, Razavi M, Kevadiya BD, Wang J, Vykunta A, Di Mascolo D, Decuzzi P, Thakor AS. Enhancing islet transplantation using a biocompatible collagen-PDMS bioscaffold enriched with dexamethasone-microplates. Biofabrication. 2021 Jan 18:10.1088/1758-5090/abdcac. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/abdcac. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33455953; PMCID: PMC8530023. 

  8. Primavera R, Bellotti E, Di Mascolo D, Di Francesco M, Wang J, Kevadiya BD, De Pascale A, Thakor AS, Decuzzi P. Insulin Granule-Loaded MicroPlates for Modulating Blood Glucose Levels in Type-1 Diabetes. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Nov 17;13(45):53618-53629. PMID: 34751556; PMCID: PMC8603355. 

  9. Razavi M, Wang J, Thakor AS. Localized drug delivery graphene bioscaffolds for cotransplantation of islets and mesenchymal stem cells. Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 19;7(47):eabf9221. PMID: 34788097; PMCID: PMC8597999. 

  10. Primavera R, Regmi S, Yarani R, Levitte S, Wang J, Ganguly A, Chetty S, Guindani M, Ricordi C, Meyer E, Thakor AS. Precision Delivery of Human Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Into the Pancreas Via Intra-arterial Injection Prevents the Onset of Diabetes. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2024 Jun 14;13(6):559-571. doi: 10.1093/stcltm/szae020. PMID: 38530131; PMCID: PMC11165159.