Bruce Verchere

Thanks @resdevbcch.bsky.social, very grateful for support from @diabetescanada.bsky.social for our research on beta cell prohormone processing in #T1D.
My first studentship was from @diabetescanada.bsky.social in 1988 and it's lovely to still be supported by them some ~37 years later!

Could amyloid play a protective role in autoimmunity? 🤔
An unexpected immunological twist with potential implications for type 1 diabetes. #T1D
Proud of this work from a great team! 4/N

Instead, diabetes was delayed in NOD mice with beta cell transgenic or knock-in expression of amyloidogenic human IAPP. We think phagocytosis of human IAPP aggregates by antigen-presenting cells (islet macrophages and DCs) interferes with antigen presentation and T cell activation. 3/N

This was a surprising finding. We predicted islet amyloid formed from human IAPP would accelerate diabetes in the NOD mouse, since it triggers islet inflammation, and islet amyloid (a pathological feature of type 2 diabetes) has been observed in some type 1 diabetic human pancreas. 2/N

New publication @diabetologiajnl.bsky.social led by a fantastic former fellow on our team @hdenroche.bsky.social.
Islet amyloid, long viewed as pathogenic for beta cells, surprisingly disrupts antigen presentation and delays autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice.

Sorry to hear this Dan
Incretin pioneer

happy holidays DM!

YouTube video by CIRTN-R2FIC #1 Islets in a Pod with Dr. Patrick MacDonald

CIRTN-R2FIC is currently running in Toronto its 4th Annual Meeting. During this meeting we have launched our mini interview series called "Islets in a Pod" ! Our first interview is with Dr. Patrick MacDonald from the University of Alberta.
youtu.be/UlHn_1Fz3ck?...

www.canada.ca/en/institute...
An inspired and excellent choice!
Looking forward to great things under Mary's leadership.

🧵(1/12) November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and we have many works coming out from the CIRTN labs focusing on islet biology and diabetes. For the beginning of Nov 2025, we have papers from Drs Thompson, Verchere, Chen, Dhanvantari, Hill, Hoesli, Kin, Levings, Lynn, Riddell, Rutter and Wheeler.

Proud to play a small part in this terrific work from @thompsonisletlab.bsky.social
Congrats Camille and Peter on a great paper.
Proinsulin processing and senescence!
@yichunchen.bsky.social @cirtn.bsky.social

So sorry to hear this
Glen was a great scientist, colleague, friend
And always with a sense of humour

The interaction of GLP-1 medicines with the immune system is complex, enabled by direct and indirect actions, including neural inter organ communication. These studies have been led @SinaiHealth by CK Wong. His latest perspective here in the JCI www.jci.org/articles/vie...

2253 was final total. Slower than last year (3050). Was a slow start with the rain but got busy when the rain slowed around 7 pm. #treatcount2025

5 kids already!
I don't think we will beet last year's record of 3050 with rain and baseball

Halloween candy prices in B.C. have increased more than 10% since last year | CBC News Statistics Canada data shows confectionery items went up 11.9 per cent in B.C. in the last year.

Thanks! We are ready!
5 already....
We have #Thriller and #BlueJays projecting www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

MDPI journals... 🤔

Two individuals, one in a lab coat and gloves, working together in a laboratory setting.

Person standing by a window with arms crossed, reflecting on a glass surface next to them.

A new study from Duke, led by Jonathan Campbell, PhD, reveals that pancreatic alpha cells do more than produce glucagon — they also generate GLP-1, a hormone that boosts insulin and regulates blood sugar.

🔗 Read more: https://medschool.duke.edu/news/alpha-cells-moonlight-secret-glp-1-factories

YouTube video by T2D Network Empowering Diabetes Care Integrating Health Information

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Shazhan Amed about how she is using data in innovative ways to improve outcomes for children and youth living with type 1 diabetes. Thanks to the T2D Network (part of IHSTS) for hosting this conversation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eazx...

Novel insights into the molecular underpinnings of islet cell dysfunction in #T1D highlighting pathways that may be leveraged to preserve residual β-cell function and modulate α-cell activity @bcellorg.bsky.social www.jci.org/articles/vie...

New Molecules and Indications for GLP-1 Medicines This Perspective explores recent progress and future directions in glucagon-like peptide-1 medicines.

The first GLP-1 medicine, twice daily exenatide was approved April 28 2005. Several decades later, the pace of innovation is expanding rapidly, encompassing new medicines and receptors, unique delivery options, and expanding therapeutic indications jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Congrats Meltem, that was an outstanding PhD defense!
Good luck in your next career steps!

Congratulations and thanks to both Sarah Cs @sarahcrome.bsky.social @sarahcolpitts.bsky.social for including us as part of this lovely study, showing a role or ILC2s in islet graft survival.

How nice! Proud to be part of that group of colleagues and child health researchers. What a lovely recognition of recipients and reminder of Dr Hammond's leadership at @bcchresearch.bsky.social.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2A protects pancreatic beta cells during endoplasmic reticulum stress while rescuing global translation inhibition - Diabetologia Aims/hypothesis The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced unfolded protein response helps determine beta cell survival rate in diabetes. The alternative eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2A...

New study on novel translation factor EIF2A led by Panzhinskiy as a collaboration between @jimjohnsonsci.bsky.social lab, Jan lab & @bruceverchere.bsky.social lab UBC Life Sciences Institute. Thanks Breakthrough T1D Canada for funding this project #DiabetesResearch link.springer.com/article/10.1...

and can play anywhere!

Join Us! | King Lab Are you interested in joining the King Lab? More information here!

Come join us at beautiful UBC! The King Lab is recruiting a Post-doc Fellow to develop mathematical theory on infectious disease evolution and emergence, together with Ben Ashby (SFU) #zoonoses #biodiversity www.zoology.ubc.ca/kinglab/join...

Always enjoy this discussion of islet biology and other things like reproducibility in science with @danieljdrucker.bsky.social and fantastic @cirtn.bsky.social grad students from across Canada each year!

Thanks for hosting us!
Such great diabetes and nutrition research, wonderful people, lovely location, outstanding trainee presentations, and fun social events!

Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Vancouver, British Columbia (CA) job with University of British Columbia Department of Surgery | 12837375 The successful candidate will work on a project developing cell-based therapies for those living with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

We're looking for postdoctoral scholars to join our team in Vancouver 🇨🇦. We work on cell-based approaches aimed at curing type 1 diabetes. Bring your own ideas for projects or work on one that's already funded! More details here: www.nature.com/naturecareer...