I am Research Professor (Department of Medicine) and the director of the Molecular Biology laboratory at the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI), Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. My overall research interests focus on the development of translational molecular strategies for the advancement in type 1 diabetes treatment, including regenerative approaches for pancreatic islets and beta-cells. Our group has pioneered the use of protein transduction approaches to pancreatic islets and made early contributions identifying key miRNA in adult islet biology and human developing pancreas and studied their role in beta-cells. Together with Dr. Domínguez-Bendala (director of the Stem Cell & Translational Research laboratory at the DRI), have joined efforts to develop a regenerative medicine therapy aimed at the endogenous induction of beta-cell regeneration for patients with diabetes. We have described a novel population of multipotent BMP-responsive progenitor-like cells within the human exocrine pancreas with the capability to generate functional endocrine cells. We have extensively characterized these cells and furthermore, we have shown in a murine model that treatment of diabetic mice with small cyclic peptide agonists of the BMP pathway induces islet regeneration in vivo and hyperglycemia is drastically reduced. Our studies have been published in several top scientific journals.
