Dr. Feyza Engin

Biography

Feyza Engin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she also serves as Director of the Enrichment Program at the UW Comprehensive Diabetes Center. Her research centers on understanding the mechanisms by which organisms maintain cellular homeostasis in the presence of chronic inflammation and organelle stress, with a particular focus on diabetes. Engin investigates the role of β-cell endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes (T1D). She has generated tissue-specific, inducible in vivo mouse models to elucidate the roles of distinct pathways involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR) and how they contribute to T1D progression. Her lab recently uncovered a crucial finding that the loss of IRE1α in β-cells, before immune infiltration occurs, leads to transient β-cell dedifferentiation, enabling these cells to evade immune-mediated destruction. Engin's ongoing research also aims to identify the impact of cellular stress on β-cell plasticity.

Research Interests