NOTE:  Dr. Scott retired in 2019 and the lab is now closed. 
T1D is an autoimmune disease in which the patient's immune system destroys the insulin-producing β-cells in the pancreatic islets. The rise in incidence over the past 50-70 years is not explained by changes in genetic risk, but is thought to be due to factors in the environment including viruses, dietary antigens and gut microbes.  All of these agents first encounter the immune system in the gastrointestinal tract. For several decades before retiring in 2019, the aim of my research was to better understand how these factors influence the gut immune system, pancreas inflammation and β-cell health.    

Dysregulated liver lipid metabolism and innate immunity associated with hepatic steatosis in neonatal BBdp rats and NOD mice. Serrano D, Crookshank JC, Morgan BS, Mueller RW, Paré M-F, Marandi L, Poussier P, Scott FW Scientific Reports 2019 Oct 10;9(1):14594.  PMID: 31601915

Changes in insulin, glucagon and ER stress precede immune activation in type 1 diabetes. Crookshank JA, Serrano D, Wang G-S, Patrick C, Morgan BS, Paré M-F, Scott FW Journal of Endocrinology August, 2018 PMID: 30139929

Where genes meet environment - Integrating the role of gut luminal contents, immunity and pancreas in type 1 diabetes. Scott FW, Pound LD, Patrick C, Eberhard C, Crookshank JA. Translational Research 179: 183-198, 2017 PMID: 27677687

Cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide: a novel regulator of islet function, islet regeneration and selected bacteria Pound LD, Patrick C, Eberhard C, Mottawea W, Wang GS, Abujamel T, Vandenbeek R, Stintzi A, Scott FW Diabetes 64:4135-47, 2015 PMID: 26370175

Jörns A, Arndt T, Vilsendorf AM, Klempnauer J, Wedekind D, Hedrich HJ, Marselli L, Marchetti P, Harada N, Nakaya Y, Wang GS, Scott FW, Gysemans C, Mathieu C, Lenzen S. Islet infiltration, immune cell activation and β-cell death in the NOD mouse, BB rat, Komeda rat, and LEW.1AR1-iddm rat in comparison with the pancreas of patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia, 57:512-21 2014 PMID: 24310561

Patrick C, Wang GS, Lefebvre DE, Crookshank JA, Sonier B, Eberhard C, Mojibian M, Kennedy C, Brooks SPJ, Kalmokoff M, Maglio M, Troncone R, Poussier P, Scott FW. Promotion of autoimmune diabetes by cereal diet in the presence or absence of microbes associated with gut immune activation, regulatory imbalance and altered cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide. Diabetes 62:2036–2047, 2013  PMID: 23349499

Mojibian M, Chakir H, Lefebvre DE, Crookshank JA, Sonier B, Keely E, Scott FW. A diabetes-specific HLA-DR restricted pro-inflammatory T cell response to wheat polypeptides in tissue transglutaminase antibody negative patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes 58: 1789-1796, 2009 (Commentary, p. 1723) PMID: 19401421

MacFarlane AJ, Burghardt KM, Kelly J, Simell T, Simell O, Altosaar I, Scott FW A type 1 diabetes-related protein from wheat (Triticum aestivum): cDNA clone of a wheat storage globulin, Glb1, linked to islet damage J. Biol. Chem. 278:54-63, 2003 (Cover Article) PMID: 12409286