Michael Brehm, PhD, Named Associate Director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence at UMass Chan Medical School
Michael Brehm, PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine, The Harvey A. Shultz Chair in Diabetes, and co-director of the UMass Chan Humanized Mouse Core, was promoted to associate director of the Diabetes Center of Excellence (DCOE) at UMass Chan Medical School in March of 2024. In this role, Dr. Brehm will oversee quality assessment by flow cytometry of the human stem cell-derived islets (SC-islets) generated in the Pappas Stem Cell Differentiation Core, and work closely with co-directors Dale Greiner, PhD, and David Harlan, MD, to lead DCOE research efforts.
Dr. Brehm arrived at the medical school as a postdoctoral fellow in 1999 working in the laboratory of Raymond Welsh, PhD, and has since advanced to associate professor. As a graduate student, Dr. Brehm was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). He learned how to manage the disease while studying to become a scientist. Early in his career he became interested in developing systems to better investigate human autoimmune diseases such as T1D.
“One of my early projects was a collaboration with the Diabetes Division to study inflammation and tolerance,” said Dr. Brehm. “I worked with Dale’s group [the Greiner lab] and ended up joining his lab in 2009.”
“It's been a pleasure to work closely with Mike for more than 25 years and witness his development from an intelligent and hard-working young scientist into a principal investigator with his own laboratory,” said Dale Greiner, PhD, the Herman G. Berkman Chair in Diabetes Care Innovation, and co-director of the UMass Chan DCOE. “Mike’s leadership ability, collaborative approach, and easy-going personality made this a logical move for us.”
The Brehm lab specializes in the development and utilization of the novel “humanized” mouse models of which Dr. Greiner helped to pioneer. They allow for in vivo investigation of human cells and tissue that are difficult to study directly in humans. A major focus of the Brehm lab is looking for ways to turn off human immune responses for the treatment of T1D and autoimmunity, and using the same pathways to turn the immune response on for cancer treatment.
“Mike is often invited to speak worldwide about these unique in vivo models that have recently allowed our scientists to observe the interaction between human insulin-producing beta cells and immune cells like never before,” said David Harlan, MD, the William and Doris Krupp Professor of Medicine, co-director of the UMass Chan DCOE, and director of the JDRF Center of Excellence in New England. “These pre-clinical studies are determining the mechanisms by which therapeutics would act directly on human immune systems, pancreatic islets, and cancers in vivo. Mike’s lab plays a major role in our diabetes research and this leadership role will be beneficial for all involved.”
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