PhD Defence Aisha Callebaut | Leuven Diabetes Lab

July 1, 2022

Aisha Callebaut successfully defended her PhD thesis, "The role of deamidation as a post-translational modification in type 1 diabetes." The defense was an important milestone in Aisha's academic journey, and it was an honor to have such an esteemed group of experts as part of the jury. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the following members of the jury for their participation and constructive questions, which contributed greatly to the quality of the defense and the final thesis: Thomas Delong (University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA), Decio Eizirik (Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium), Rita Derua (KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium), and Johannes Creemers (KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium). Their insightful feedback and thought-provoking questions have enriched this academic endeavor and have been instrumental in shaping the final outcome of Aisha’s PhD work.

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PhD Research Summary - Dr. Callebaut

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which insulin-producing beta cells are destroyed, often starting in childhood. This PhD project investigated the role of post-translational protein modifications in driving autoimmunity, with a focus on deamidation.

The work optimized mass spectrometry approaches to detect deamidation and demonstrated that transglutaminase 2 (TGM2), the main enzyme mediating this modification, is expressed and active in the pancreas and thymus of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. In addition, stressed human islets were shown to generate deamidated peptides, some of which triggered immune responses, confirming their immunogenic potential.

These findings highlight deamidation as a novel mechanism contributing to type 1 diabetes autoimmunity and point to deamidated peptides as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

The full text can be found via the link.

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