# PanKbase: a community hub for integrated pancreas knowledge

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $749,543

## Abstract

Abstract
With the advent of single cell sequencing and multiplexed imaging technologies, several pancreas and islet
phenotyping efforts in the United States and Europe are generating multimodal datasets, but information
across different resources is fragmented. There is an unmet need in the pancreas and diabetes research
community to connect and integrate information generated at the tissue and single cell level by complementary
programs in order to define phenotypes and spatial relationships of pancreatic cell types and how they change
developmentally and in diseases such as type 1 diabetes (T1D). Through aggregation and integration of
diverse data generated from these unique pancreatic tissues and islets, we will build a pancreas
knowledgebase (PanKbase) as the third pillar of the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN) community along
with the Human Islet Research Enhancement Center (HIREC) and Human Pancreas Analysis Program
(HPAP). The knowledge housed and built within PanKbase will be disseminated to the broader scientific
community based on FAIR principles. Better access to and integration of these rich datasets will accelerate
progress toward understanding T1D etiology and pathophysiology and lead to new diagnostic tool
development, and transformative changes in diabetes prevention and care.
Our project aspires to capitalize on features of the Pancreatlas and GenomicKB platform to build Pankbase
that will connect and integrate pancreas and islet datasets generated through international tissue mapping
efforts. In addition, PanKbase will have an analytics component that will enable the generation of new insights
into molecular signatures of T1D and importantly facilitate cross-organ analysis (for example, pancreas and
immune organs) for different stages of T1D development. We will make these insights openly accessible to all,
including: basic scientists, pharmaceutical industry, clinicians designing and conducting clinical trials to prevent
and treat T1D, and the macine learning community. PanKbase-fostered cross-disciplinary collaborations will
promote innovation, with the ultimate aim of improving the lives of people with T1D.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10818949
- **Project number:** 1U24DK138515-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Marcela Brissova
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $749,543
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-02-01 → 2028-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10818949

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10818949, PanKbase: a community hub for integrated pancreas knowledge (1U24DK138515-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10818949. Licensed CC0.

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