Julia Panzer, Ph.D.

[email protected]
(626) 218-7608
Julia Panzer, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Diabetes Immunology
Research Area

Diabetes Immunology

Academic Appointments

Assistant Research Professor, Department of Diabetes Immunology

Julia Panzer, Ph.D., is a biomedical scientist with a deep-rooted passion for understanding islet cell physiology, particularly the dynamic interactions between islet cells and immune cells in good health and type 1 diabetes. Her multidisciplinary background spans molecular biology, toxicology and cell physiology, and her work primarily focuses on hormone secretion and live cell imaging to study islet function.

 

Dr. Panzer’s current research centers on alpha cells, investigating their signaling mechanisms and functional diversity within the islet. She also explores how the islet microenvironment shapes endocrine cell behavior by comparing isolated islets with pancreatic tissue slices. In parallel, she is developing a human tissue-based model of type 1 diabetes to study immune-islet interactions and test potential therapeutic strategies. As director of the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) West site, she leads efforts in tissue processing, distribution and physiological assessment of human pancreatic samples, advancing our understanding of islet biology in good health and disease.

Location

Education & Experience

Degrees

  • 2014-2018, Ph.D., Human Biology, Technical University, Dresden, Germany
  • 2009-2011, M.S., food chemistry and toxicology, Westphalian-Wilhelms University, Münster, Germany
  • 2006-2009, B.S., chemistry, Westphalian-Wilhelms University, Münster, Germany

Fellowship

  • 2019-2023, Postdoctoral Fellow, Lab of Professor Alejandro Caicedo, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University of Miami, Florida

Professional Experience

  • 2024-Present, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Diabetes Immunology, City of Hope®, Duarte, California
  • 2023-2024, Staff Scientist, Pugliese Lab, Department of Diabetes Immunology, City of Hope, Duarte, California
  • 2013-2014, Research Assistant for Dr. Jochen Rink, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), Dresden, Germany
  • 2012, Research Assistant for Professor David Phillips, Department of Environmental Carcinogenesis, King’s College, London, United Kingdom

Research

Julia Panzer, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor in the Department of Diabetes Immunology, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute.

Awards & Memberships

Awards

  • 2022-2025, Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Diabetes Association
  • 2021, Scholarship, Human Islet Research Network Annual Investigator Meeting
  • 2018, Travel Award from Gesellschaft von Freunden und Förderern der TU Dresden e. V. (GFF)
  • 2017, First Place Graduate Student Poster Presentation, Beta Cell Workshop, Dresden, Germany
  • 2017, Travel Award from the Graduate Academy Dresden
  • 2012, ERASMUS Scholarship for six-month scientific research stay

Memberships

  • 2020-2024, American Diabetes Association
  • 2020-2023, Endocrine Society
  • 2014-2018, Graduate Academy Dresden
  • 2014-2018, European Association for the Study of Diabetes

Publications

  • Lazimi CS, Stis AE, Panzer JK, Hiller H, Beery ML, Linnemann AK, Stabler CL, Mathews CE, Phelps EA. Efficient transduction of pancreas tissue slices with genetically encoded calcium integrators. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Mar 25:2025.03.21.644659. doi: 10.1101/2025.03.21.644659. PMID: 40196483; PMCID: PMC11974670.
  • Panzer JK, Garcia PA, Pugliese A. Generating human pancreatic tissue slices to study endocrine and exocrine pancreas physiology. J Vis Exp. 2024 Mar 15;(205). doi: 10.3791/66468. PMID: 38557588.
  • Panzer JK, Caicedo A. A bright future for glucagon and alpha cell biology. J Endocrinol. 2023 Nov 27;260(1):e220315. doi: 10.1530/JOE-22-0315. PMID: 37888975.
  • JK Panzer and A Caicedo. Protocol to generate and utilize pancreatic tissue slices to study endocrine and exocrine physiology in situ from mouse and human tissue. STAR Protoc. 2023 Jun 30;4(3):102399. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102399. PMID: 37392393 PMCID: PMC10336303
  • Qureshi, JK Panzer, J Põder, TR Malek, A Caicedo. Immunotherpy with low dose IL-2/CD25 prevents beta cell dysfunction and dysglycemia in prediabetic NOD mice. Diabetes. 2023 Mar 20:db220482. doi: 10.2337/db22-0482. PMID: 36939730
  • van der Heide V, Jangra S, Cohen P, Rathnasinghe R, Aslam S, Aydillo T, Geanon D, Handler D, Kelley G, Lee B, Rahman A, Dawson T, Qi J, D'Souza D, Kim-Schulze S, Panzer JK, Caicedo A, Kusmartseva I, Posgai AL, Atkinson MA, Albrecht RA, García-Sastre A, Rosenberg BR, Schotsaert M, Homann D. Limited extent and consequences of pancreatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Cell Rep. 2022 Mar 15;38(11):110508. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110508. Epub 2022 Feb 21.PMID: 35247306
  • Panzer JK, Tamayo A, Caicedo A. Restoring glutamate receptor signaling in pancreatic alpha cells rescues glucagon responses in type 1 diabetes. Cell Rep. 2022 Dec 13;41(11):111792. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111792.
  • Panzer JK and Caicedo A. Targeting the pancreatic alpha cell to prevent hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes. Review paper. Diabetes. 2021 Dec;70(12):2721-2732. doi: 10.2337/dbi20-0048.PMID: 34872936
  • Panzer JK, Cohrs CM, Speier S. Using pancreas tissue slices for the study of islet physiology. Methods Mol Biol. 2020;2128:301-312. doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-0385-7_20. PMID: 32180201.
  • Qadir MMF, Álvarez-Cubela S, Weitz J, Panzer JK, Klein D, Moreno-Hernández Y, Cechin S, Tamayo A, Almaça J, Hiller H, Beery M, Kusmartseva I, Atkinson M, Speier S, Ricordi C, Pugliese A, Caicedo A, Fraker CA, Pastori RL, Domínguez-Bendala J. Long-term culture of human pancreatic slices as a model to study real-time islet regeneration. Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 29;11(1):3265. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17040-8. Erratum in: Nat Commun. 2020 Jul 22;11(1):3742.PMID: 32601271; PMCID: PMC7324563.
  • Panzer JK, Cohrs CM, Drotar DM, Enos SJ, Kipke N, Chen C, Bozsak R, Schöniger E, Ehehalt F, Distler M, Brennand A, Bornstein SR, Weitz J, Solimena M, Speier S. Dysfunction of persisting β cells is a key feature of early Type 2 Diabetes pathogenesis. Cell Rep. 2020 Apr 7;31(1):107469. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.03.033. PMID: 32268101.
  • Panzer JK, Hiller H, Cohrs CM, Almaça J, Enos SJ, Beery M, Cechin S, Drotar DM, Weitz JR, Santini J, Huber MK, Muhammad Fahd Qadir M, Pastori RL, Domínguez-Bendala J, Phelps EA, Atkinson MA, Pugliese A, Caicedo A, Kusmartseva I, Speier S. Pancreas tissue slices from organ donors enable in situ analysis of type 1 diabetes pathogenesis. JCI Insight. 2020 Apr 23;5(8):e134525. doi:10.1172/jci.insight.134525. PMID: 32324170; PMCID: PMC7205437.
  • Chen C, Cohrs CM, Stertmann J, Bozsak R, Speier S. Human beta cell mass and function in diabetes: Recent advances in knowledge and technologies to understand disease pathogenesis. Mol Metab. 2017 Jul 8;6(9):943-957. doi:10.1016/j.molmet.2017.06.019. PMID: 28951820; PMCID: PMC5605733.
  • Weitz JR, Makhmutova M, Almaça J, Stertmann J, Aamodt K, Brissova M, Speier S, Rodriguez-Diaz R, Caicedo A. Mouse pancreatic islet macrophages use locally released ATP to monitor beta cell activity. Diabetologia. 2018 Jan;61(1):182-192. doi: 10.1007/s00125-017-4416-y. Epub 2017 Sep 7. PMID:28884198; PMCID: PMC5868749.
  • Cohrs CM, Chen C, Jahn SR, Stertmann J, Chmelova H, Weitz J, Bähr A, Klymiuk N, Steffen A, Ludwig B, Kamvissi V, Wolf E, Bornstein SR, Solimena M, Speier S. Vessel Network Architecture of Adult Human Islets Promotes Distinct Cell-Cell Interactions In Situ and Is Altered After Transplantation. Endocrinology. 2017 May 1;158(5):1373-1385. doi: 10.1210/en.2016-1184. PMID: 28324008.
  • Chen C, Chmelova H, Cohrs CM, Chouinard JA, Jahn SR, Stertmann J, Uphues I, Speier S. Alterations in β-Cell Calcium Dynamics and Efficacy Outweigh Islet Mass Adaptation in Compensation of Insulin Resistance and Prediabetes Onset. Diabetes. 2016 Sep;65(9):2676-85. doi: 10.2337/db15-1718. Epub 2016 Apr 8. PMID: 27207518.
  • Anastasiou V, Ninou E, Alexopoulou D, Stertmann J, Müller A, Dahl A, Solimena M, Speier S, Serafimidis I, Gavalas A. Aldehyde dehydrogenase activity is necessary for beta cell development and functionality in mice. Diabetologia. 2016 Jan;59(1):139-150. doi: 10.1007/s00125-015-3784-4. Epub 2015 Oct 31. PMID:26518685; PMCID: PMC4670456.
  • Wohak LE, Krais AM, Kucab JE, Stertmann J, Øvrebø S, Seidel A, Phillips DH, Arlt VM. Carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons induce CYP1A1 in human cells via a p53-dependent mechanism. Arch Toxicol. 2016 Feb;90(2):291-304. doi:10.1007/s00204-014-1409-1. Epub 2014 Nov 15. PMID: 25398514; PMCID: PMC4748000.
  • Marciniak A, Cohrs CM, Tsata V, Chouinard JA, Selck C, Stertmann J, Reichelt S, Rose T, Ehehalt F, Weitz J, Solimena M, Slak Rupnik M, Speier S. Using pancreas tissue slices for in situ studies of islet of Langerhans and acinar cell biology. Nat Protoc. 2014 Dec;9(12):2809-22. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2014.195. Epub 2014 Nov 13. PMID: 25393778.
  • Leffers L, Unterberg M, Bartel M, Hoppe C, Pieper I, Stertmann J, Ebert F, Humpf HU, Schwerdtle T. In vitro toxicological characterisation of the S-containing arsenic metabolites thio-dimethylarsinic acid and dimethylarsinic glutathione. Toxicology. 2013 Mar 8;305:109-19. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2013.01.007. Epub 2013 Jan 23. PMID: 23353027.