Research

Research priorities: novel therapeutic approaches for diabetes, pancreatic cell differentiation, stem cells, genetics, bioinformatics

Maike Sander is a German physician-scientist. She investigates novel therapies for diabetes, a common global metabolic disease. Her research into underlying molecular mechanisms and the strategy for replacing insulin-producing cells with embryonic stem cells aims to pave the way for novel methods to treat diabetes.

Diabetes is caused by the destruction and loss of function of special cells in the pancreas, known as beta cells. These cells provide healthy bodies with insulin, a hormone that reduces blood sugar levels and is vital to health. Diabetes patients, on the other hand, need insulin to be administered to them for the duration of their lives. Maike Sander and her team investigate the genetic factors that lead to the loss of beta cells. By discovering the molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation and function of pancreatic cell types, above all the insulin-producing beta cells, the team aims to pave the way for novel therapeutic possibilities.

One focus of Maike Sanders’ work is using embryonic stem cells to treat diabetes. This involves devising procedures to enable embryonic stem cells to develop into pancreas cells, which then replace the afflicted beta cells of patients. To achieve this it is important to identify gene-regulating programmes which allow stem cells to mature into beta cells. The end goal of this approach is to create therapies for diabetes which would fundamentally improve patients’ quality of life.

Career

• since 2022 Scientific Director and Chair of the Board, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany
• since 2022 Adjunct Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, USA
• 2019-2022 Einstein Visiting Fellow, Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
• 2012-2022 Director, Pediatric Diabetes Research Center, San Diego, USA
• 2014-2022 Co-Director, Center on Diabetes, Institute of Engineering in Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA
• 2008-2022 Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA
• 2003-2008 Assistant Professor and Professor, University of California, Irvine, USA
• 1999-2003 Assistant Professor, Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
• 1994-1999 Research Associate, University of California, San Francisco, USA
• 1987-1994 Degree in Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany

Functions

• since 2003 Expert, National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
• since 2004 Expert, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), New York City, USA

Projects

• since 2021 Member, Research Consortium “Impact of Genomic Variation on Function”, National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, USA
• since 2015 Member, Research Consortium “Human Islet Research Network”, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, USA
• 2015-2020 Member, T2D-GENES Consortium, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, USA
• 2005-2015 Member, Research Consortium “Beta Cell Biology Consortium”, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, USA

Auszeichnungen und Mitgliedschaften

• 2022 Albert Renold Prize, European Association for the Study of Diabetes
• since 2020 Member, Association of American Physicians, USA
• since 2017 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2017 Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany
• since 2011 Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation, USA
• 2008 Grodsky Award, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), New York City, USA