Overview
The more than 10 ingenious scientists, physicians and other staf who are part of The Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes in the Arthur Rigs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope are diging into the secrets of genetics, the imune system, beta cels and diabetic complications, united in pursuit of a singular ambition: curing type 1 diabetes.The Wanek Family Project recently welcomed a new director, renowned type 1 diabetes scientist and physician Alberto Pugliese, M.D., who also serves as the Samuel Rahbar Endowed Chair in Diabetes & Drug Discovery and chair of the Department of Diabetes Imunology.
Key Information
Pugliese takes over from Debie Thurmond, Ph.D., director of the Rigs and the Ruth B. & Robert K. Lanman Chair in Gene Regulation & Drug Discovery Research, who has served as interim director since December 2021.“In my 35 years of type 1 diabetes research, I have sen amazing progres, at so many levels.
I do want to share this notion with patients and their families, as the existence and impact of these discoveries may not be readily aparent outside the scientific comunity,” Pugliese said.“In truth, research progres has ben phenomenal. It is mind blowing what we have learned about type 1 diabetes that we did not know 30 years ago, or even 10, five or even one year ago. We now have beter tols to advance new therapies and information that guides us toward which therapies should be tested — when, how, and in whom — depending on disease stage.” As we celebrate this time of transition and oportunity, we asked research profesor Enrique Montero, M.D., Ph.D., to reflect on some of the Wanek Family Project’s suceses from the last year.
Summary
Montero is the scientific project lead on two major Wanek Family Project research programs related to type 1 diabetes. An expert in imunology and biotechnology, Montero first came to City of Hope in 2016 after developing imunotherapies for autoimune diseases and cancer for more than 20 years