Mostafa Bakhti

Group leader Beta Cell Development and Regeneration

+49-89-3187-43153 Visit Email meBuilding/Room: Campus Neuherberg, building 3620, room 34b

Group leader Beta Cell Development and Regeneration, Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research (IDR)

“My vision is to uncover the mechanisms of insulin-producing β-cell formation and function to design novel therapies for diabetes. The research in my team focuses on pancreas development, islet biology, and human endocrinogenesis using stem cells.”

Group leader Beta Cell Development and Regeneration, Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research (IDR)

“My vision is to uncover the mechanisms of insulin-producing β-cell formation and function to design novel therapies for diabetes. The research in my team focuses on pancreas development, islet biology, and human endocrinogenesis using stem cells.”

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Research focus and Academic Career

The main objective of Mostafa Bakhti and his team is to delineate how cellular and molecular processes are integrated to generate islets of Langerhans and regulate their function in mice and humans. They employ cutting-edge methods including mouse genetics, 3D organoids, confocal microscopy, multi-omics, stem cell differentiation, and gene editing to elucidate the molecular programs underlying endocrine differentiation, morphogenesis and function. The ultimate goal is to design novel strategies for diabetes therapy and tissue engineering.

Mostafa is a cell and developmental biologist. He obtained his Bachelor in Biology from the University of Isfahan and his Master in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Tehran. He then joined Mikael Simons´s lab at Max-Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine for his PhD and studied the cell biology of central nervous system myelination. Afterwards, Mostafa joined Heiko Lickert´s lab at Helmholtz Munich as a postdoc fellow to study pancreatic endocrine lineage formation (endocrinogenesis). Since 2018, Mostafa has been leading the group of β-cell development and regeneration at IDR with the research focus on pancreas development, islet biology, and human endocrinogenesis.

Expertise

Cell biology Developmental biology Endocrinogenesis 3D organoids Islet biology Diabetes Beta cells Single-cell RNA-sequencing Stem cells Tissue morphogenesis

Understanding how β-cells and islets are formed during human development is the base for regenerative approaches to cure diabetes.

Professional Career

2018

Head of the Group Beta Cell Development and Regeneration

Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research, Helmholtz Center Munich

2013 - 2018

Postdoc

Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research, Helmholtz Center Munich

2008 - 2012

PhD in Cell Biology

Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen

Honors and Awards

2022
DZD NEXT Young Talent Program from the German Center for Diabetes Research
2018
DZD NEXT grant from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD)
2018
Paula and Richard von hertwig Award for interdisciplinary Cooperation
2007
Selected member of Iranian National Institute of Elites

Syt13 regulates endocrine cell egression

We identified Synaptotagmin-13 (Syt13) as a key regulator of endocrine cell morphogenesis and islet formation during pancreas development. The mechanistic findings of this study have broader implications also in context of neurogenesis, neurological disorders and cancer cell dissemination.

Read the paper on Nature Communication

Deutsches Zentrum für Diabetesforschung e.V.

New funding granted to Dr. Bakhti

Mostafa Bakhti has received the DZD NEXT Young Talent Program funding from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) for a project on beta cell function and regeneration.

The DZD NEXT Young Talent Program supports young scientists within the DZD on their way to scientific independence. The grants are used to finance a postdoc for two years who will work on the project.

DZD NEXT Young Talent Program

PubMed

Bakhti M, Bastidas-Ponce A, Tritschler S, Czarnecki O, Tarquis-Medina M, Nedvedova E, Jaki J, Willmann SJ, Scheibner K, Cota P, Salinno C, Boldt K, Horn N, Ueffing M, Burtscher I, Theis FJ, Coskun Ü, Lickert H.

Synaptotagmin-13 orchestrates pancreatic endocrine cell egression and islet morphogenesis

Lange M, Bergen V, Klein M, Setty M, Reuter B, Bakhti M, Lickert H, Ansari M, Schniering J, Schiller HB, Pe'er D, Theis FJ.

CellRank for directed single-cell fate mapping

Tarquis-Medina M, Scheibner K, González-García I, Bastidas-Ponce A, Sterr M, Jaki J, Schirge S, García-Cáceres C, Lickert H, Bakhti M.

Synaptotagmin-13 Is a Neuroendocrine Marker in Brain, Intestine and Pancreas

Salinno C, Büttner M, Cota P, Tritschler S, Tarquis-Medina M, Bastidas-Ponce A, Scheibner K, Burtscher I, Böttcher A, Theis FJ, Bakhti M, Lickert H.

CD81 marks immature and dedifferentiated pancreatic β-cells

Sachs S, Bastidas-Ponce A, Tritschler S, Bakhti M, Böttcher A, Sánchez-Garrido MA, Tarquis-Medina M, Kleinert M, Fischer K, Jall S, Harger A, Bader E, Roscioni S, Ussar S, Feuchtinger A, Yesildag B, Neelakandhan A, Jensen CB, Cornu M, Yang B, Finan B, DiMarchi RD, Tschöp MH, Theis FJ, Hofmann SM, Müller TD, Lickert H.

Targeted pharmacological therapy restores β-cell function for diabetes remission

Bakhti M, Scheibner K, Tritschler S, Bastidas-Ponce A, Tarquis-Medina M, Theis FJ, Lickert H.

Establishment of a high-resolution 3D modeling system for studying pancreatic epithelial cell biology in vitro

Bastidas-Ponce A, Tritschler S, Dony L, Scheibner K, Tarquis-Medina M, Salinno C, Schirge S, Burtscher I, Böttcher A, Theis FJ, Lickert H, Bakhti M.

Comprehensive single cell mRNA profiling reveals a detailed roadmap for pancreatic endocrinogenesis

Bakhti M, Böttcher A, Lickert H.

Modelling the endocrine pancreas in health and disease

Bader E, Migliorini A, Gegg M, Moruzzi N, Gerdes J, Roscioni SS, Bakhti M, Brandl E, Irmler M, Beckers J, Aichler M, Feuchtinger A, Leitzinger C, Zischka H, Wang-Sattler R, Jastroch M, Tschöp M, Machicao F, Staiger H, Häring HU, Chmelova H, Chouinard JA, Oskolkov N, Korsgren O, Speier S, Lickert H.

Identification of proliferative and mature β-cells in the islets of Langerhans

Bakhti M, Snaidero N, Schneider D, Aggarwal S, Möbius W, Janshoff A, Eckhardt M, Nave KA, Simons M.

Loss of electrostatic cell-surface repulsion mediates myelin membrane adhesion and compaction in the central nervous system

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Dr. Mostafa Bakhti

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Research focus and Academic Career

Expertise

Professional Career

Head of the Group Beta Cell Development and Regeneration

Postdoc

PhD in Cell Biology

Honors and Awards

Highlights

Syt13 regulates endocrine cell egression

We identified Synaptotagmin-13 (Syt13) as a key regulator of endocrine cell morphogenesis and islet formation during pancreas development. The mechanistic findings of this study have broader implications also in context of neurogenesis, neurological disorders and cancer cell dissemination.

New funding granted to Dr. Bakhti

Mostafa Bakhti has received the DZD NEXT Young Talent Program funding from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) for a project on beta cell function and regeneration.

The DZD NEXT Young Talent Program supports young scientists within the DZD on their way to scientific independence. The grants are used to finance a postdoc for two years who will work on the project.

Most Important Publications

Networks and Affiliations

German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD)

Helmholtz Research School for Diabetes

Helmholtz Diabetes Center

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