For
Diabetes arises when insulin-producing β-cells become dysfunctional or are lost- but not all β-cells are affected equally. Our lab studies why: we investigate how β-cells exist as a heterogeneous population, with distinct subsets that differ in their resilience, function, and vulnerability to disease.
We focus on the pancreatic islet as a dynamic microenvironment, where β-cell health is shaped by constant communication with neighboring immune cells. Our work has identified distinct β-cell subsets, including a population marked by the surface protein, that show altered immune interactions and are differentially represented in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
We aim to understand what allows certain β-cells to survive and adapt under disease conditions, while others fail.
Ultimately, our goal is to translate these insights into new therapeutic strategies that protect β-cell health and function, offering more precise, targeted approaches to treating and preventing diabetes.
Dr. Erez Dror is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research at the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he leads the Dror Laboratory.
Erez has a long-lasting interest in the pancreatic islet — a subject that has fulfilled his scientific curiosity for years and continues to generate new questions. During his doctoral studies at the University of Basel, he investigated a novel physiological crosstalk between macrophages and insulin-producing β cells in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, work that recast inflammatory signaling as a participant in normal metabolic control rather than solely a driver of disease.
His postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics addressed the molecular basis of β-cell heterogeneity. There he developed SCAN-seq, a method that revealed two distinct β-cell subsets defined by their levels of the chromatin modification H3K27me3 — βLO and βHI — which differ in morphology, metabolism, and insulin secretion. Notably, βHI cells express CD24, a cell-surface glycoprotein implicated in immune regulation, linking epigenetic identity to immune interaction and opening new avenues for research.
The Dror Laboratory uses SCAN-seq alongside other cutting-edge techniques to study the pancreatic islet inside out, with the goal of uncovering novel insights into the immune-metabolic nexus within the islet and translating them into innovative therapeutic approaches for diabetes.
