George S. Eisenbarth, MD, PhD
Executive Director of the Barbara Davis Center
Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine & Immunology
Program Deputy Director, The Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center (DERC)
BioSketch
Major research interest is the Prediction and prevention of type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus including studies of the immunogenetics of type 1 diabetes, focusing on the activation and natural history of specific patterns of autoimmunity in genetically susceptible individuals. Genetic characterization of individuals from three groups: 1) identical twins of patients with type 1 diabetes; 2) a population-based Colorado cohort (identified by cord blood screening of HLA alleles of more than 30,000 newborns); and 3) unique families with multiple generations affected by type I diabetes.
Basic studies include investigation of autoimmunity in the NOD mouse model of type 1 diabetes of anti-insulin autoantibodies and anti-insulin islet-infiltrating T cells which have a shared T cell receptor Alpha chain motif. We believe insulin is the primary autoantigen for type 1 diabetes and interrupting targeting of a trimolecular complex of MHC-insulin peptide-specific T cell receptors will allow prevention.
Eisenbarth Laboratory:
Principal Investigator:
George S. Eisenbarth, MD, PhD, BDC Executive Director
Executive Assistant:
Cherie Cobb
Research Associates:
Sunanda Babu, PhD, MBA (India)
Dongmei Miao, MD (China)
Liping Yu, MD (China)
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Peter R Baker, MD
Li Zhang, MD, PhD (China)
Professional Research Assistants:
Taylor Armstrong, BA
K. Michelle Hutchings, BS
Xiangling He, BA
Joy Jeffrey, BA
Ling Jiang, BS
Kelly Johnson, BS
Haddas Lev, MS, MBA
Marcella Li, MS
Jessica Marn, BS
Kristen McDaniel, BS