“It’s the age-old problem in biomedical research,” Dr. James says. “Funders want more preliminary data before they back your research, but are hesitant to fund the studies to generate that preliminary data.”

That’s why BRI created a path that helps researchers jump-start their work: BRI’s Innovation Fund, which helps scientists develop new tools and technologies and use them to answer exciting new research questions.

Dr. James and Caroline Stefani, PhD, were awarded one of the first $100,000 Innovation Fund Grants at the end of 2023. Just a year later, their team is generating beta cells at BRI — and these results have already helped them secure another $400,000 in funding from Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF).

Studying beta cells is a crucial part of T1D research. Until recently, the only way to study human beta cells was when a person with diabetes passed away and donated their body to science, and that doesn’t happen very often.

That’s why Aisha Callebaut, PhD, a postdoc in the James Lab, traveled to Belgium in 2023 to study with Decio Eizirik, MD, PhD, a pioneer and expert in transforming stem cells into beta cells. Now, she’s creating these cells at BRI using a 7-step process that mimics how the body makes them.

As soon as Dr. Callebaut engineered the first batch of cells, the James Lab team started chipping away at an important question: Why does the immune system attack beta cells in T1D?

Another important piece of BRI’s innovation grants is that once a tool or technology is up and running, it becomes available to scientists across BRI.

Soo Jung Yang, PhD, in BRI’s Buckner Lab, is already using lab-grown beta cells in her work. Dr. Yang’s research focuses on turning T cells that cause T1D into regulatory T cells (Tregs) that protect you from T1D. Having access to lab-grown human beta cells will help her team test whether Tregs can offer this protection in the lab, and move this approach one step closer to human trials.

“I have two nieces with T1D and they’re always asking when my lab research is going to help them,” Dr. James says. “With the progress we’re making, I can tell them that we’re a whole lot closer now.”