معرفی
Maria Bettini is a Professor of Pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and a faculty member in the Molecular Biology Program, where she investigates immunological mechanisms of autoimmunity with emphasis on type 1 diabetes pathogenesis.
She earned her B.S. from East Tennessee State University and Ph.D. from Emory University, establishing expertise in T cell immunology and autoimmune disease models.
Her research program centers on T cell-mediated destruction of pancreatic beta cells, focusing on regulatory T cell (Treg) function, T cell receptor signaling diversity, and metabolic-immune interactions. Using genetically modified mouse models, flow cytometry, and transcriptional analysis, her lab explores how self-tolerance fails in autoimmunity and identifies pathways for therapeutic intervention, particularly through Treg modulation.
Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals dominant themes in TCR repertoire analysis, CAR-T engineering applications for autoimmunity, and novel mechanisms of Treg suppression in tissue-specific inflammation, with strong translational focus on diabetes therapeutics.
Dr. Bettini has mentored numerous graduate students in the Molecular Biology Program and secured sustained funding from the National Institutes of Health for her work on autoimmune diabetes mechanisms and tolerance restoration strategies.
Her laboratory maintains advanced capabilities in murine diabetes models, single-cell TCR sequencing, metabolic phenotyping, and antigen-specific T cell tracking, operating within the University of Utah's Department of Pathology immunology research cluster.
