hPSCs for Disease Modeling and Cell Therapy in Diabetes

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This research team uses human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including hiPSCs and hESCs, to study diabetes, which is one of the main health problems facing Qatar and the region. In diabetes, different paths caused by many genetic and environmental factors lead to the loss of insulin-secreting beta cells and/or function. Understanding these many paths to beta cell damage or dysfunction could help in identifying therapeutic approaches specific for each path (personalized therapy).

The group’s research mainly focuses on:

Establishing in vitro hPSC-based models (patient-derived iPSCs and gene-edited hPSCs) to investigate the pathophysiology underlying the development of monogenic and polygenic forms of diabetes.

Generating hPSC-derived functional insulin-secreting beta cells for cell therapy.

Latest Publications

  • Abdelalim EM* (2020). Modeling different types of diabetes using human pluripotent stem cells. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, in press.
  • Memon B, Younis I, Abubaker F, Abdelalim EM* (2020). PDX1-/NKX6.1+ progenitors derived from human pluripotent stem cells as a novel source of insulin-secreting cells. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2020 Aug 28;e3400.
  • Abu Aqel YW, Ali G, Elsayed AK, Al-Khawaga S, Hussain K, Abdelalim EM* (2020). Generation of two human iPSC lines from patients with maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 2 (MODY2) and permanent neonatal diabetes due to mutations in the GCK gene. Stem Cell Research, 2020 Oct; 48:101991.
  • Ali G, Elsayed AK, Nandakumar M, Bashir M, Younis I, Abu Aqel Y, Memon B, Temanni R, Abubaker F, Taheri S, Abdelalim EM* (2020). Keratinocytes derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells recapitulate the genetic signature of psoriasis disease. Stem Cells and Development, 2020 Apr 1;29(7):383-400.
  • Karam M, Younis I, Elareer NR, Nasser S, Abdelalim EM* (2020). Scalable Generation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Adipocytes from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Cells, 9(3), 710.
  • Elsayed AK, Aghadi M, Al-Khawaga S, Hussain K, Abdelalim EM* (2020). Derivation of a human induced pluripotent stem cell line (QBRIi007-A) from a patient carrying a homozygous intronic mutation (c.613-7T>G) in the SLC2A2 gene. Stem Cell Research, 2020 Feb 24;44:101736.
  • Memon B and Abdelalim EM* (2020). Stem cell therapy for diabetes: beta cells versus pancreatic progenitors. Cells, 9 (2): pii: E283.
  • Elsayed AK, Aghadi M, Ali G, Al-Khawaga S, Hussain K, Abdelalim EM* (2020). Generation of a human induced pluripotent stem cell line (QBRIi009-A) from a patient with a heterozygous deletion of FOXA2. Stem Cell Research, 42, 101705.
  • Aigha II, Memon B, Elsayed AK, Abdelalim EM* (2018). Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into two distinct NKX6.1 populations of pancreatic progenitors. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 9(1):83.
  • Memon B, Karam M, Al-Khawaga S, Abdelalim EM* (2018). Enhanced differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic progenitors co-expressing PDX1 and NKX6.1. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 2018, 9:15.
  • Al-Khawaga S, Memon B, Butler AE, Taheri S, Abou-Samra AB, and Abdelalim EM* (2018). Pathways governing development of stem cell-derived pancreatic β cells: lessons from embryogenesis. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 93(1):364-389.