Children's Hospital is part of the UPMC family.
Our Sites
Be safe anytime, anywhere.
To find a pediatrician or pediatric specialist, please call 412-692-7337 or search our directory.
A resource for our network of referring physicians.
For more information about research, please call our main office at 412-692-6438.
Ranked #8 Nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
Under the leadership of George Gittes, MD, the researchers of this lab are acutely focused on diseases related to the pancreas; specifically type 1 diabetes and chronic pancreatitis. Investigations at the molecular and cellular levels may unlock gene therapies to address diabetes and, in the case of chronic pancreatitis, result in new interventional strategies that can avoid the need for radical surgery.
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a loss of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Due to lack of sufficient available islet for transplantation, there has been an ongoing interest to identify the alternate source of beta cells for replacement therapy.
New evidence shows that differentiated endocrine cells have significant plasticity and can trans-differentiate into functional beta cells. Our lab has developed a viral-mediated gene therapy protocol to reverse type 1 diabetes in mouse models through alpha-to-beta cell conversion in vivo. We also found that the new beta cells derived from alpha cells not only reduced blood glucose in the type 1 diabetic mouse model but also appear to be protected against an immune attack in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice for a significant amount of time. Currently, we are attempting similar strategies in non-human primates as a precursor to human clinical trials.
Chronic pancreatitis is a common problem affecting both young and adult. If not treated, it can lead to severe complications and eventually diabetes or pancreatic cancer. The current treatment is pancreas resection or total pancreatectomy, followed by autologous pancreatic islet transplantation. We are developing an intra-ductal intervention strategy to chemically ablate inflamed ductal and exocrine tissue while preserving the islet tissue. Our tests on rodents and non-human primates suggest this is a viable alternative to surgery; in both species, we saw significant improvement in pain management, and the animals maintained normal blood glucose without insulin treatment.
Principal Investigator gittesgk@upmc.edu Read More >>
Krishna Prasadan, PhD Senior Research Scientist and Lab Manager Director of Rangos Cell Imaging Core krishna.prasadan@chp.edu
Mohamed Saleh, MD Research Scientist and Assistant Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology mohamed.saleh@chp.edu
Anuradha Sehrawat, PhD Research Scientist sehrawata@upmc.edu
Tina Zhang, PhD Research Scientist ting.zhang4@upmc.edu
Yang Wan, PhD Post-doctoral Fellow yan.wang18@chp.edu
Guy Agostinelli Technician agostinelligm2@upmc.edu
Jeremy Friedman Technician jeremy.friedman@chp.edu
Thomas Madison Technician madison.thomas7@chp.edu
Ranjeet Kalsi, DO Visiting Scholar and Surgical Resident (PGY3) / Research Fellow kalsirs@upmc.edu
Nada Mohamed, MD Visiting Scholar nada.mohamed2@chp.edu
Kartikeya Sharma, MD Visiting Scholar sharmak4@upmc.edu
Ali Abdelhafiz, MD Visiting Scholar ali.abdelhafiz@chp.edu
The Gittes Lab UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, 6th Floor 4401 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15224 412-692-7291
View current news below featuring the research, staff and advancements of the Gittes Lab for Diabetes and Pancreatitis Research at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Richard King Mellon Institute for Pediatric Research. Please check back often for continued updates.
UPMC Children’s and Pitt Researcher Receives $2.59 Million NIH Grant for Diabetes Gene Therapy UPMC Children’s Hospital Press Release (7/21/20)
Gene Therapy, a podcast featuring George Gittes, MD, was added to the “That’s Pediatrics” series. (11/6/2018)
Gene Therapy Restores Normal Blood Glucose Levels in Mice With Type 1 Diabetes EurekAlert! (1/4/2018)
Alpha to Beta Cell Reprogramming: Stepping toward a New Treatment for Diabetes Cell Stem Cell (1/4/2018)
Gene Therapy Reverses Autoimmune Diabetes in Mice UPMC Children’s Hospital Press Release (1/4/2018)
Multi-year Research Project Grants (R01) from the National Institutes of Health are helping to drive the innovative investigations being conducted by the Gittes Lab.
Endogenous Alpha-to-beta Cell Transdifferentiation in Diabetes R01 DK112836 (Gittes) 04/01/2017 – 03/31/2022
Mapping Disease Pathways for Biliary Atresia R01 DK109365-01A1 (Sindhi) 04/01/2017 – 03/31/2022
Alpha Cells Conversion to Beta Cells in Non-human Primates R01 DK120377 (Gittes) 09/30/2018 – 08/31/2020
EGF and TGF-β Signaling Synergy in β-cell Proliferation R01 DK111460 (Gittes) 09/10/2016 – 08/31/2019
Evidence of a Developmental Origin of Beta-cell Heterogeneity Using a Dual Lineage Tracing Technology Chen C, Shiota C, Agostinelli G, Ridley D, Jiang Y, Ma J, Prasadan K, Xiao X, Gittes GK Development 2019 Jun 5
Endogenous Reprogramming of Alpha Cells into Beta Cells, Induced by Viral Gene Therapy, Reverses Autoimmune Diabetes Xiao X, Guo P, Shiota C, Zhang T, Coudriet GM, Fischbach S, Prasadan K, Fusco J, Ramachandran S, Witkowski P, Piganelli JD, Gittes GK Cell Stem Cell 2018 Jan 6
Pancreatic Cell Tracing, Lineage Tagging and Targeted Genetic Manipulations in Multiple Cell Types Using Pancreatic Ductal Infusion of Adeno-associated Viral Vectors and/or Cell-tagging Dyes Xiao X, Guo P, Prasadan K, Shiota C, Peirish L, Fischbach S, Song Z, Gaffar I, Wiersch J, El-Gohary Y, Husain SZ, Gittes GK Nature Protocols 2014 Oct 31
M2 Macrophages Promote Beta-cell Proliferation by Up-regulation of SMAD7 Xiao X, Gaffar I, Guo P, Wiersch J, Fischbach S, Peirish L, Song Z, El-Gohary Y, Prasadan K, Shiota C, Gittes GK Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 2014 Mar 19
No Evidence for Beta Cell Neogenesis in Murine Adult Pancreas Xiao X, Chen Z, Shiota C, Prasadan K, Guo P, El-Gohary Y, Paredes J, Welsh C, Wiersch J, Gittes GK The Journal of Clinical Investigation 2013 Apr 27
Developmental Biology of the Pancreas: A Comprehensive Review Gittes GK Dev Biol 2008 Nov 18
Lineage-specific Morphogenesis in the Developing Pancreas: Role of Mesenchymal Factors Gittes GK, Galante PE, Hanahan D, Rutter WJ, Debase HT Development 1996 Feb 1
Onset of Cell-specific Gene Expression in the Developing Mouse Pancreas Gittes GK, Rutter WJ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 1992 Feb 1
The Gittes Lab is looking for talented post-doctoral fellows and graduate students interested in Diabetes research. Please contact Dr. Gittes via email if you are interested.
Children's Hospital's main campus is located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Our main hospital address is:
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh One Children’s Hospital Way 4401 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224
In addition to the main hospital, Children's has many convenient locations in other neighborhoods throughout the greater Pittsburgh region.
With MyCHP, you can request appointments, review test results, and more.
For questions about a hospital bill call:
To pay your bill online, please visit UPMC's online bill payment system.
Interested in giving to Children's Hospital? Support the hospital by making a donation online, joining our Heroes in Healing monthly donor program, or visiting our site to learn about the other ways you can give back.