Anthony Gavalas

Anthony Gavalas is Professor at Technische Universität Dresden's Faculty of Medicine and leads the Stem Cells in Pancreas Development and Disease Research Group at the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden (PLID/CRTD). His career spans appointments at BRFAA (Athens), King's College London, and NIMR London, with continuous research leadership since 2003.

His research centers on pancreatic development mechanisms and stem cell differentiation. Key discoveries include: sphingosine-1-phosphate's role in endocrine cell aggregation/islet formation; GPCR signaling in lineage allocation; and Aldh1b1 as a metabolic timer regulating progenitor chromatin accessibility. Current work focuses on generating functional SC-islets through endothelial co-culture and investigating Aldh1b1+ cells in pancreatic cancer initiation.

Methodologically, the lab combines

• hPS cell reporter systems with automated imaging
• Organotypic embryonic pancreas culture
• RNA-Seq/ATAC-Seq analyses
• Genetic lineage tracing

to dissect signaling-metabolism interactions in cell fate determination.

Advising and grants focus on translational diabetes research and cancer pathogenesis:

• Developing SC-islet protocols for cell therapy
• Exploring Aldh1b1 as therapeutic target
• Elucidating metabolic control of chromatin states

The lab maintains strong international collaborations in stem cell biology and developmental signaling, with recent publications in high-impact journals including PNAS, PLOS Biology, and Diabetologia.