Transcriptional regulation of pancreatic beta cell failure by single cell RNA-Seq

This project examines the gradual decline of beta cell function in diabetes. There is evidence that transcriptional dysregulation of beta cells leads to beta cell failure. Pancreatic islets are composed of a heterogeneous group of specialized endocrine cells. Hence, traditional strategies of RNA profiling on bulk islet cells have likely not captured the complexity of individual pancreatic islet cells in normal physiology and especially the stresses of T2DM. The PI will assess single cell transcriptomes of ~10,000 pancreatic islet cells from healthy control and diabetic mice. He will use these data to map transcriptional networks perturbed in T2DM with an eye on identifying pathways disrupted in beta cell failure.