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TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Models of Pancreatic Function and Disease

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Guest Editor

Jonathan Weitz

Jonathan Weitz

University of Miami; University of California San Diego

Dr. Jonathan Weitz is a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Miami with a strong research interest in immune cell physiology, islet biology, and pancreatic cancer. During his thesis he studied the role of resident macrophages of the pancreatic islet under the guidance of his mentor, Dr. Alejandro Caicedo. He is an American Heart Association (AHA) Postdoctoral Fellow and has published in journals such as Cell Metabolism, Nature Communications, Diabetes, Lab on a Chip and Molecular Cancer Research. Currently, Dr. Weitz is a visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Weitz has also worked in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors.

Collection Overview

The pancreas plays a central role in metabolic regulation, digestion, endocrine signaling, and systemic homeostasis, while pancreatic disorders such as diabetes mellitus, pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, cystic fibrosis-associated pancreatic dysfunction, and exocrine insufficiency remain major global health challenges. Rapid advances in experimental biology, bioengineering, imaging, stem cell science, genomics, and translational medicine have transformed the development of models used to investigate pancreatic physiology and disease pathogenesis.


However, the field continues to face important challenges, including limited physiological relevance of conventional in vitro systems, difficulties in reproducing complex pancreatic microenvironments, interspecies variability in animal models, restricted access to human tissues, and the need for standardized, reproducible, and clinically translatable methodologies.


This Collection aims to provide a comprehensive platform highlighting established and emerging experimental systems used to study pancreatic biology and pathology. The collection will encompass in-vitro, ex-vivo, in-vivo, computational, and clinical models, including (but not limited to) pancreatic organoids, organ-on-chip and microfluidic platforms, stem cell-derived islet and acinar models, co-culture systems, 3D bioprinting, xenograft and genetically engineered animal models, zebrafish and rodent disease models, metabolic and dietary intervention models, fibrosis and inflammation models, pancreatic cancer models, imaging-based approaches, omics-integrated platforms, AI-assisted disease modeling, patient-derived systems, surgical and transplantation models, biomarker discovery methodologies, and clinical functional assessment techniques.


The goal of this collection is to consolidate reproducible protocols, methodological innovations, and translational strategies that improve the study of pancreatic function and disease progression. By bringing together diverse methodologies across basic, preclinical, and clinical research, this collection will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, bioengineers, and translational scientists, facilitating standardization, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the accelerated development of diagnostic and therapeutic advances in pancreatic research.

Articles

Observing Islet Function and Islet-Immune Cell Interactions in Live Pancreatic Tissue Slices
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Observing Islet Function and Islet-Immune Cell Interactions in Live Pancreatic Tissue Slices

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Cited by 22

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2021

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Abstracts

Human pseudoislet system enables simultaneous assessment of intracellular signaling dynamics and hormone secretion

Peng Wang1,

John Walker*2,

Alvin Powers*3,

Ashu Agarwal*4,

Rita Bottino5,

Diane Saunders3,

Heather Nelson3,

Matthew Ishahak4,

Rachana Haliyur2,

Conrad Reihsmann3,

Marcela Brissova*3,

Greg Poffenberger3,

Joseph Luchsinger2,

Radhika Aramandla3,

Adolfo Garcia-Ocaña1

1Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,

2Vanderbilt University,

3Vanderbilt University Medical Center,

4University of Miami,

5Allegheny-Singer Research Institute

Renal Subcapsular Transplantation of iPSC-Derived Beta Cells and Graft Nephrectomy: An In Vivo Validation Protocol Using STZ-Induced T1D NSG Mice

Kihyun Lee*1

1Ewha Womans University

Flow Cytometric Assessment of Dose-Dependent Immune Cell Infiltration in Cerulein/LPS-Induced Severe Acute Pancreatitis in Mice

Kihyun Lee*1

1Ewha Womans University

Engineering Tunable Synthetic Fibrotic Niches to Model Acinar-to-Ductal Metaplasia in 2D Pancreatic Culture Systems

Shanmukha Subrahmanyam Ayyalasomayajula1,

Jennifer P Morton2,

Matthew J Walker*1

1Centre for the Cellular Microenvironment, Advanced Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK,

2Preclinical Pancreatic Cancer, Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow, UK