Project #84: Microbial architects: How yeast cell wall components activate islet resident macrophages to drive beta-cell expansion
Forecasted
Project #84 supports Gabriella Cynthia Giese’s research on how yeast cell wall components activate islet macrophages to expand insulin-producing beta cells, exploring ways to prevent or treat type 1 diabetes.
Funder: Diabetes Research Connection
Due Dates (Anticipated): July 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: $25,000–$75,000 for one year; graduate students capped at $50,000
Summary: Supports research into how Candida dubliniensis yeast cell wall components activate islet resident macrophages to drive beta-cell expansion and potentially prevent or treat type 1 diabetes.
Key Information: DRC funding is for early-career scientists conducting research at U.S. institutions; NIH-funded principal investigators are ineligible.
Description
Project #84 is an active Diabetes Research Connection (DRC) project led by Gabriella Cynthia Giese at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It investigates how cell wall components of the yeast Candida dubliniensis activate islet resident macrophages to promote expansion of insulin-producing beta cells. The laboratory found that this yeast stimulates beta-cell expansion in postnatal mice and improves blood glucose regulation in mouse models of diabetes.
The work builds on observations that people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have reduced microbiome diversity, while beta-cell expansion coincides with microbiome diversification in newborns. Giese seeks to identify the yeast’s distinctive features and potential preventive or therapeutic mechanisms. DRC’s broader funding program connects donors with early-career scientists pursuing novel, peer-reviewed T1D research in cure, care, complications, and prevention.
