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Dr. Kent named Fuller Foundation Term Chair in Diabetes

Dr. Kent has been named the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation Term Chair in Diabetes. “This funding not only helps to support the cutting-edge research that Dr. Kent is doing, but also allows her to pursue high risk but high reward research areas that she would otherwise not have been able to do,” said Dale Greiner, PhD, the Dr. Eileen L. Berman and Mr. Stanley I. Berman Foundation Chair in Biomedical Research, professor of molecular medicine and co-director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence.  FULL ARTICLE
 
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Pioneer Award presented to Dr. Kent by the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes

Dr. Kent was recognized by the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) with a Pioneer Award for her “continued dedication to create a world free of Type 1 Diabetes.”  Kent Lab presented data at nPOD's Annual Scientific Meeting from studies of white blood cells from within the islets of a recent-onset T1D donor.  The donor had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just five months before he passed away, at the age of 23.  FULL STORY

Kent Lab isolates immune cells from the islets of donors with T1D

In a highly collaborative effort, scientists at UMass Chan Medical School have isolated and characterized a large bank of live islet-infiltrating T cells directly from the islets of tissue donors with type 1 diabetes. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, have direct implications for the design of therapies and preventative strategies for those with type 1 diabetes and those at risk for developing it. 

Using live islets from nine type 1 diabetic donors, Kent Lab sorted live lymphocytes by fluorescence activated cell sorting.  They also used an improved tissue culture method they developed to grow lymphocytes from the islets. 236 T cell lines were derived from the islets, and they analyzed the function of 50 lines, discovering the specific reactivities of 18 lines.  LEARN MORE