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Brusko Laboratory Working to Cure Type 1 Diabetes
UF Immune Monitoring Core

Human Atlas of Neonatal Development and Early Life-Immunity (HANDEL-I)

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Human Atlas of Neonatal Development and Early Life-Immunity (HANDEL-I)

The early life events that influence immune system development have implications in the development of a multitude of diseases including type 1 diabetes (T1D). The immune system is actively evolving and integrating dynamic signals from the host’s environment, not only to ward off external infection but also to respond to and participate in tissue growth and remodeling. The critical processes that determine immune tolerance or autoimmunity are shaped by these exposures. While much has been learned regarding the developing immune system in animal models, many knowledge gaps exist with respect to early human immune system development, including the fundamental processes involved in establishing self-tolerance, and how early adaptive immune responses are generated to the many diverse antigens and pathogens encountered during infancy and childhood. Access to human tissues, innovative research technologies, and analytic and data sharing capabilities are unprecedented and can now be leveraged to gain new insights. The purpose of HANDEL-1 program is to better understand the “normal” human immune developmental program by acquiring stromal and mucosal tissues from infant and pediatric organ donors and to create a novel and essential dataset informing immune system development in a collaborative research project that leverages shared access to various tissues in conjunction with the existing HANDEL-P program that seeks to understand the development of the pancreas and islet microenvironment in early life.

UF Pathology News: Dr. Todd Brusko, Associate Professor in the Experimental Pathology Division and Diabetes Institute at the University of Florida, was awarded $1.78M from the Leona & Harry Helmsley Charitable Trust for a three year project on Type 1 Diabetes.

Dr. Brusko heads a HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST supported effort to profile the developing human immune system during early life, referred to as the Human Atlas of Neonatal Development and Early Life –Immunity (HANDEL-I).