UMass Medical School joins JDRF Center of Excellence in New England to advance type 1 diabetes research Center will focus on accelerating gene editing approaches for beta cell replacement therapy By Colleen Locke and Bryan Goodchild UMass Medical School Communications February 23, 2021 Five UMass Medical School scientists from the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence are part of the JDRF Center of Excellence in New England that launched Tuesday, Feb. 23. The goal of the cross-institutional collaboration is to create a cell replacement therapy that could treat and potentially cure type 1 diabetes. Funded by JDRF and led by Harvard Stem Cell Institute co-director Douglas Melton, PhD, and JDRF scientific staff leader Esther Latres, PhD, assistant vice president of research, the new center comprises leading Massachusetts-based experts, including Michael Brehm, PhD, and Dale L. Greiner, PhD, of UMass Medical School, and Stephan Kissler, PhD, of the Joslin Diabetes Center. The team will closely collaborate with Leonard Shultz, PhD, of The Jackson Laboratory in Maine. Dr. Shultz is also a professor of medicine at UMass Medical School.