Dr. Michael Schwartz (MTE) has received a 5-year, $4 million award from the Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) under its 2010 Program Grant Competition. The grant will support the Diabetes-Stem Cell Program (DSCP), a  multi-institutional collaborative effort whose overarching goal is to unite expertise in stem cell biology with that in developmental biology of pancreatic beta cells, basic and clinical aspects of diabetes, implantation biology, and immunology in a joint scientific endeavor. Key objectives of the DSCP include not only the creation and commercialization of a new, cell-based method for diabetes treatment, but also the development of strategies to eliminate the risk of tumor formation in cell implants, and to optimize methods for cell differentiation and metabolic analysis.

Dr. Schwartz is professor and founding director of the Diabetes and Obesity Center of Excellence and holds the Robert H. Williams Endowed Chair in Medicine. Other program investigators include Vincenzo Cirulli, Laura Crisa, Marshall Horwitz, Gerald Nepom, Ian Sweet and Carol Ware.