Northern California JDRC Center of Excellence: Q & A with Co-Director Dr. Seung Kim
The Co-Director of the Northern California JDRF Center of Excellence (COE), Director of the Stanford Diabetes Research Center (SDRC) and Stanford Professor, Dr. Seung Kim, talks about his vision for the Center in developing a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Congratulations on the launch of the Northern California Center of Excellence! The COE has been established with the goal of accelerating research to develop T1D cures. What specific areas of research will the COE be focused on?
Thank you. We worked very hard with our Stanford, University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and JDRF colleagues to bring this Center to life. The COE was conceived as a way to develop regenerative therapies for T1D by bringing together an incredibly talented, committed group of researchers from Stanford and UCSF. Dr. Mathias Hebrok, a long-time collaborator from UCSF and I will be heading the COE to address an outstanding problem in T1D pathogenesis: Identifying the basis of autoimmune assault of human islets in T1D and targeting the immune cells to halt this autoimmune destruction of islets. We envision that successful investigations in this crucial area of T1D research will enable translational cell-based replacement therapies and cures for T1D.
A key feature of the COE is its emphasis on collaborative research. What collaborative projects led to the inception of the COE and what future collaborative projects have been proposed?
We’re very proud of the vibrant culture of multidisciplinary collaboration among researchers at Stanford and UCSF which have led to several recent ground-breaking discoveries. Although some may view Stanford and UCSF as historical rivals, we have smashed this notion by building active collaborations between these institutions that have a laser-like focus on a unifying major goal: to cure T1D. Ongoing research partnerships between my group and SDRC member and pioneer in the field, Dr. Judith Shizuru focuses on preventing the body from rejecting donor transplanted cells. Related projects with SDRC member, Dr. Everett Meyer target survival of transplanted cells via immune modulation therapies which forms the basis and central idea for the COE.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Stanford and UCSF with pioneering expertise in immune biology cell-based replacement therapies will pursue two main projects – one, to identify mechanisms underlying autoimmunity, and two, to suppress autoimmunity and promote graft survival after transplant. In addition to these partnerships, we have built collaborations with Dr. Kyle Loh – my Stanford colleague in the Department of Developmental Biology – and Dr. Matthias Hebrok, my UCSF counterpart in the COE, to improve development of stem cell-derived replacement islet cells. Other projects will be supported by research ‘cores’ that will also bridge and foster collaborative efforts by investigators at UCSF and Stanford.
How has the SDRC supported the ongoing and proposed research for the COE?
SDRC has already been instrumental in providing institutional support to its researchers through a robust framework that nurtures collaboration and a dynamic exchange of ideas between diabetes researchers from Stanford and UCSF. This includes collaboration in the running of its cores (like the Stanford Islet Research Core, which benefits from human islet isolations derived from the UCSF Diabetes Research Center) and through the ‘Pilot and Feasibility’ granting mechanism. In early 2019, SDRC supported the Bay Area Islet Biology (BAIB) meeting that enabled discussions and collaborations between multiple laboratories based at Stanford, UCSF and UC Davis. This has led to work that is now driving forward progress in the COE.
Along these lines, the Stanford DRC and the UCSF DRC will continue working together to build organizational support and maximize collaboration, teaching and mentoring opportunities, and resource sharing through the respective islet cores and access to state-of-the-art techniques and services. Our SDRC Program Manager, Dr. Kiran Kocherlakota has worked day and night to promote institutional partnerships, including with diabetes and transplantation clinics to help build the framework for a translational program. That’s why it’s a natural progression that Dr. Kocherlakota has agreed to serve as a Program Co-manager for the COE.
As Co-Director of the Northern California COE and Director of the SDRC, can you speak to your efforts towards developing an islet transplantation program and the concomitant development of cell-based therapeutics to cure T1D?
Helping to bring a human islet transplantation program has been a labor of love for the SDRC. Recently, we reached a milestone by establishing the Stanford Pancreatic Islet Replacement and Immune Tolerance (SPIRIT) program which was approved by Stanford Health Care. While the SPIRIT program is not yet a part of the COE, our plan is to bring these clinical and basic science programs together in the near future.
The merging of effort by SPIRIT, the COE, and the SDRC will accelerate discovery and application of new therapeutic strategies that will support and enhance the effectiveness of a islet replacement as a ‘standard of care’ for diabetes. For instance, in the COE and SDRC, we are focused on developing immune tolerance and cell-based therapeutics that would dovetail with the overall goal of providing islet transplantation for T1D as well as other forms of diabetes requiring islet transplantation. As Director of the SDRC and Co-Director of the COE, I will work with others to help build organizational and infrastructural support to establish such a cell replacement programs at Stanford.
What is your vision for the COE and its role in influencing the direction of T1D research and therapeutics development?
I envision very promising T1D research and therapeutic strategies as tangible outcomes from the COE that can be introduced to an effective clinical program in the near future. We have an outstanding team across two world-class institutions that will advance our knowledge of T1D disease dynamics and the development of regenerative therapies. We will guide and support collaborative ventures between researchers from Stanford and UCSF by providing an enriching environment in combination with infrastructural support. The COE and SDRC will drive the sustainable exploration of therapeutic strategies to cure T1D.
By
Harini Chakravarthy
Harini Chakravarthy is a science writer for the Stanford Diabetes Research Center.