My research focuses on three areas. The first is isolation and characterization of human pancreatic stem cells and comparison of gene expression of the stem cells and their differentiated progeny. I am interested in the pathways that control pancreatic stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Defects in these mechanisms may contribute to diseases such as diabetes mellitus, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer. With this approach, components of the genetic networks that regulate pancreatic development can be identified, and their specific functions can be further characterized