Dr. Spagnoli wants to investigate whether beta cells and hepatic cells arise from a common bipotent progenitor cell. She hopes to identify the molecular signals that determine why one progenitor cell develops into a hepatic cell and another into a beta cell.

"We want to elucidate the factors that determine this difference," she said. Her approach is to start from this interface to see whether it is possible to reprogram adult hepatic cells to pancreatic beta cells so that they are able to produce insulin. By bypassing the use of embryonic stem cells for her investigation, she hopes to shorten and simplify the reprogramming process.

Dr. Spagnoli studied medicine and received her MD at La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy, and completed an additional doctorate in genetics and cell biology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France.

Prior to coming to Berlin in 2008 to conduct her research at MDC, she worked in the laboratory of Professor Ali Hemmati-Brivanlou at Rockefeller University in New York, USA, one of the leading laboratories in the field of stem cell research and developmental biology.

The European Research Council, established in 2007 by the European Commission, is funded through the 7th Research Framework Programme of the European Union.

Source: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres