Lab Members

David M. Harlan, MD

Principal Investigator

William and Doris Krupp Professor of Medicine

Co-Director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence at UMass Chan Medical School

Investigator at the JDRF Center of Excellence in New England

BS, Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 
MD, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, 1980
Residency and Fellowship, Duke University Medical Center 

David Blodgett, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Education:
MS, Clinical Investigation, UMass Chan Medical School
PhD, Biomedical Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
BA, Chemistry & Spanish, Assumption College Worcester, MA

Dr. Blodgett is interested in gene expression differences in pancreatic alpha and beta cells due to diabetes, age, and/or stress.  He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at three years old.

Mason Tarpley

Bioinformatician

Education:
MS, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology, University of Nebraska Medical Center
BS, Biology, Truman State University, Missouri

Mason analyzes the vast volume of data generated during our study of human insulin producing beta cells and the immune cells that attack human islets in people living with type 1 diabetes.

Sambra Redick, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Project Lead, UMass Chan Diabetes Center of Excellence Stem Cell to Islet Differentiation Core

Education:
PhD, Molecular Biology, Princeton University
MS, Molecular Biology, Princeton University
BS, Genetics, University of Georgia

Dr. Redick is led the effort to develop the Stem Cell to Islet Differentiation Core at the UMass Chan Diabetes Center of Excellence to grow functional stem cell-derived islets for various collaborative research projects.  Genetically engineering stem cell-derived islets to become undetected by the immune system is a major focus. Transplanting these cells into a person living with type 1 diabetes, without requiring toxic immunosuppressive therapy, would be a life-changing curative therapy. Dr. Redick is also developing new methods to study human islets & insulin-producing beta cells to understand their role in the type 1 diabetes autoimmune attack.