Helmholtz Munich

The focus of the Institute for Diabetes and Organoid Technology (IDOT) is to understand and modify the mechanisms underlying pancreas development and function with the goal to improve disease progression and outcome. We utilize organoid systems derived from human pluripotent stem cells as well as mouse models to study pancreas biology, diabetes and pancreatic cancer, with the goal to prevent or reverse disease-related pathological processes.

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Diabetes

We are interested in understanding how pancreatic islet cells form and how we can direct the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells towards functional insulin-producing cells. Using these tools we explore the underlying causes of diabetes and unresolved questions in human beta cell biology.

Pancreas cancer

We harness organoid technology to understand the origin and development of pancreatic neoplasias. Using both human stem cell and patient derived organoid models allows us to query the mechanisms of pancreatic cancer formation and interrogate potential therapeutic targets.

News from the IDOT

Awards & Grants, April 14, 2023

The biologist and medical researcher Matthias Hebrok was awarded the Bavarian Distinguished Professorship. Since 2022 Prof. Hebrok is Director at the Institute for Diabetes and Organoid Technology (IDOT)) at Helmholtz Munich. The Bavarian Ministry of…

Prof. Dr. Matthias Hebrok

Director View profile

Dr. Laura Leonhardt

Scientific Strategist and Project Manager

Dr. Veronica Cochrane

Postdoc

Dr. Hasna Maachi

Postdoc

Diana Lochner

Assistant to the Director

Merve Yigin

PhD Student

Damla Taskin

PhD Student

Marianne Aniag

Lab Technician

Hannes Rolbieski

Lab Technician

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2022 Lab Chip

Goswami I, de Klerk E, Carnese P, Hebrok M, Healy KE

Multiplexed microfluidic platform for stem-cell derived pancreatic islet β cells

2022 JCI Insight

Emfinger CH, de Klerk E, Schueler KL, Rabaglia ME, Stapleton DS, Simonett SP, Mitok KA, Wang Z, Liu X, Paulo JA, Yu Q, Cardone RL, Foster HR, Lewandowski SL, Perales JC, Kendziorski CM, Gygi SP, Kibbey RG, Keller MP, Hebrok M, Merrins MJ, Attie AD

β Cell-specific deletion of Zfp148 improves nutrient-stimulated β cell Ca2+ responses

2022 Human Gene Therapy

Chai S, Kim Y, Galivo F, Dorrell C, Wakefield L, Posey J, Ackermann AM, Kaestner KH, Hebrok M, Grompe M

Development of a Beta Cell-Specific Expression Control Element for Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus

2022 Stem Cell Reports

Parent AV, Ashe S, Nair GG, Li ML, Chavez J, Liu JS, Zhong Y, Streeter PR, Hebrok M

Development of a scalable method to isolate subsets of stem cell-derived pancreatic islet cells

2022 Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology

Kerper N, Ashe S, Hebrok M

Pancreatic β-Cell Development and Regeneration

2021 Cell Reports

Parent AV, Faleo G, Chavez J, Saxton M, Berrios DI, Kerper NR, Tang Q, Hebrok M

Selective deletion of human leukocyte antigens protects stem cell-derived islets from immune rejection

2021 Journal of Biomedical Materials Research

Shaheen R, Gurlin RE, Gologorsky R, Blaha C, Munnangi P, Santandreu A, Torres A, Carnese P, Nair GG, Szot G, Fissell WH, Hebrok M, Roy S

Superporous agarose scaffolds for encapsulation of adult human islets and human stem-cell-derived β cells for intravascular bioartificial pancreas applications.

2021 eLife

Hendley AM, Rao AA, Leonhardt L, Ashe S, Smith JA, Giacometti S, Peng XL, Jiang H, Berrios DI, Pawlak M, Li LY, Lee J, Collisson EA, Anderson MS, Fragiadakis GK, Yeh JJ, Ye CJ, Kim GE, Weaver VM, Hebrok M

Single-cell transcriptome analysis defines heterogeneity of the murine pancreatic ductal tree

2021 Frontiers in Endocrinology

de Klerk E, Hebrok M

Stem Cell-Based Clinical Trials for Diabetes Mellitus

2021 Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Jacobson EF, Chen Z, Stoukides DM, Nair GG, Hebrok M, Tzanakakis ES

Non-xenogeneic expansion and definitive endoderm differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells in an automated bioreactor