Esra B Karakose, PhD

Esra Karakose, Ph.D., is an is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, and member of the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Institute (DOMI). Her research focuses on understanding the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms controlling replication of human pancreatic beta cells, with the overarching goal of developing novel therapeutic approaches to beta cell regeneration for diabetes.

While a postdoc and instructor in Dr. Andrew Stewart lab at Mount Sinai, she contributed to the first comprehensive genetic and transcriptomic atlas of human insulinomas, rare and benign pancreatic tumors that consist of beta cells capable of replicating and robust insulin secretion. In addition, she has played a central role in studies exploring human beta cell regenerative drugs and identifying synergistic roles among them. These studies were published in Nature Communications (2017, 2020), Cell Metabolism (2019) and Science Translational Medicine (2020) among others. Her prior doctoral research at Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany focused on cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesions in the context of endoderm development. A full list of her publications can be found at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/esra.karakose.2/bibliography/public/ 

Dr Karakose’s lab is interested in understanding the mechanism of action of beta cell regenerative drugs using single cell approaches. Her recent findings, published in Cell Reports Medicine (2024) point toward a potential lineage conversion in human islets in the presence of beta cell regenerative drugs. She is currently investigating this highly interesting phenomenon at a molecular and cellular level utilizing various in vivo and in vitro approaches. Overall, her goal is to identify novel therapeutic targets for human pancreatic beta cell regeneration for the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.