Pamela Itkin-Ansari, PhD - Sanford Burnham Prebys

Pamela Itkin-Ansari earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California San Diego, in 1999. She received postdoctoral training focused on juvenile diabetes at that same organization. In 2003, Dr. Itkin-Ansari was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and maintains UCSD as her primary affiliation. Dr. Itkin-Ansari was appointed to Sanford Burnham Prebys as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in 2005 and her laboratory is at the Institute.

Other Appointments

UC San Diego
Sanford School of Medicine, South Dakota

Funding Awards and Collaborative Grants

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)
The Hartwell Foundation
The Hirshberg Foundation

Honors and Recognition

2012: Invited Speaker, (International) Islet Society, Stockholm, Sweden
2012-current: Editorial Board -Islets
2012-current: Diabetes, Islets, PlosOne, Molecular Therapy- manuscript review
2012-current: Wellcome Trust-grant review
2012: Invited Speaker, Hirshberg Symposium – Pancreatic Cancer
2011: Invited Speaker, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, Seattle, Washington
2011: Editorial Board – World Journal of Diabetes
2011: Invited Speaker, UCLA
2011-current: Diabetelogia – manuscript review
2011-current: Editorial Board – World Journal of Diabetes
2010: Invited Speaker, 3rd International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes, Switzerland
2010: Editorial Board -Stem Cell Reviews and Reports [SCRR]
2010: Invited Speaker, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, Washington, D.C
2010-current: Hartwell Foundation Biomedical Research Awardee
2010: Invited Speaker, Pancreatic Cancer Research Group, UCLA
2010-current: Faculty Advisor, SDSU CIRM Bridges Program
2009: Invited Speaker, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
2009: Invited Speaker, UK Consulate Stem Cell Meeting
2009: Finalist-NIH President’s New Innovator Award
2009-current: Advances in Experimental Biology and Medicine – manuscript review
2008: Health Hero Award, JDRF and Combined Health Agencies of San Diego
2008-current: Pancreas – manuscript reviewer
2008-current: JDRF – grant reviewer
2007-current: Stem Cells – manuscript reviewer

Other Affiliations

2012-current: Islet Society
2010-current: ASGCT
2008-current: Board of Directors, JDRF San Diego chapter
2008-2013: JDRF board of directors, San Diego
2007-current: American Association for Cancer Research
2007-current: American Diabetes Association
2007-current: American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research
2006-current: AAAS

Related Disease
Cancer, Diabetes – General, Gastric Cancer, Monogenic Diabetes, Pancreatic Cancer, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes

Dr. Itkin-Ansari’s research is directed toward understanding diseases of the human pancreas. She has studied the signaling pathways controlling growth and differentiation in the pancreas in order to elucidate mechanisms leading to pancreatic pathogenesis. The lab is developing a cell based therapy for diabetes that will not require immunosuppression. New research in the lab has identified a signaling pathway controlling pancreatic cancer cell growth that is yielding new potential targets for drug discovery for pancreatic cancer.

Pamela Itkin-Ansari’s Research Report

Diabetes

*Genetic engineering in human pancreatic cells*

In Type I, juvenile diabetes, the insulin producing beta-cells in pancreatic islets are destroyed by the immune system and patients require exogenous insulin. In Type II diabetes beta-cells are also lost or dysfunctional and therefore, 25 percent of patients with Type II diabetes also take insulin. Unfortunately, current insulin therapy is not sufficient to prevent serious medical consequences of this disease. Islet transplantation into the liver has been evaluated as a diabetes therapy in adults. However, it is considered too risky for children because transplant patients must take potent drugs to suppress the immune system for the rest of their lives.

The goal of our lab is to develop a human islet transplantation therapy for children that does not require immunosuppression and is minimally invasive. Previously we determined that a durable encapsulation device protected mouse islets from immune rejection in a mouse model of Type I diabetes. The encapsulated cells were controlled diabetes in the animals. In a preclinical trial we demonstrated that the device is also immunoprotective in primates. Recently we have collaborated with a local biotech company ViaCyte in a CIRM funded study to encapsulate human embryonic stem cell derived pancreas cells. Together we demonstrated that the cells differentiate into fully functional islets inside the device and cure diabetes in mice. Remarkably, the cells functioned well even when the device was transplanted just under the skin, making the procedure minimally invasive.

*Islet clusters in the developing pancreas*

We also study the signaling pathways involved in:

beta-cell differentiation
beta-cell function
beta-cell replication and regeneration

Pancreatic Cancer

We are interested in identifying the master regulators of growth control in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). We found that the transcriptional repressor Id3 is profoundly upregulated in human PDA. To investigate whether Id3 might play an early role in aberrant pancreatic duct cell growth, we expressed the gene in primary human duct cells that are not normally growing. Indeed, Id3 expression was sufficient to trigger cell cycle entry. Further, the lab demonstrated that Id3 is required for pancreatic cancer cell growth. We are now studying Id3 interacting genes in order to identify optimal targets for drug discovery efforts for PDA.

Select Publications

Showing 2 of 2

HNF4α antagonists discovered by a high-throughput screen for modulators of the human insulin promoter.

Kiselyuk A, Lee SH, Farber-Katz S, Zhang M, Athavankar S, Cohen T, Pinkerton AB, Ye M, Bushway P, Richardson AD, Hostetler HA, Rodriguez-Lee M, Huang L, Spangler B, Smith L, Higginbotham J, Cashman J, Freeze H, Itkin-Ansari P, Dawson MI, Schroeder F, Cang Y, Mercola M, Levine F

Chem Biol 2012 Jul 27 ;19(7):806-18

Sources of beta-cells for human cell-based therapies for diabetes.

Itkin-Ansari P, Levine F

Cell Biochem Biophys 2004 ;40(3 Suppl):103-12

View All Publications

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Other Appointments

Funding Awards and Collaborative Grants

Honors and Recognition

Other Affiliations

Pamela Itkin-Ansari’s Research Report

Diabetes

Pancreatic Cancer

HNF4α antagonists discovered by a high-throughput screen for modulators of the human insulin promoter.

Sources of beta-cells for human cell-based therapies for diabetes.

Biography

Other Appointments

Funding Awards and Collaborative Grants

Honors and Recognition

Other Affiliations

Research

Select Publications

HNF4α antagonists discovered by a high-throughput screen for modulators of the human insulin promoter.

Sources of beta-cells for human cell-based therapies for diabetes.