Pancreatic islets play a key role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, and their dysfunction underlies metabolic diseases such as diabetes. At the same time, pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat malignancies, characterized by late diagnosis and low survival rates. Growing evidence also indicates a link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer, suggesting that diabetes may act both as a risk factor and an early symptom of the disease, highlighting the need for an integrated research approach.

In this context, the pancreatic islet microenvironment and complex cell-cell interactions within tumor tissue are of particular importance, as they contribute to disease initiation and progression. The development of reliable models of pancreatic islets and pancreatic cancer is therefore essential for a better understanding of these processes and for testing new therapeutic strategies.

The team develops advanced microfluidic tools for creating pancreatic islet models that faithfully recapitulate in vivo conditions, as well as models of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) microenvironment. In parallel, diagnostic technologies for the isolation and analysis of circulating pancreatic tumor cells are being developed. These solutions provide important support for the identification of novel diagnostic biomarkers, disease modeling, and the development and testing of innovative therapeutic approaches.

People involved in the project:
Publications: