Jelena Kolic

 jelena-kolic

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology
PhD, ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥

Laboratory Location: 
Office Location: 
Email address: 

LAB OPPORTUNITIES

We are currently looking for:

  • Two Master’s students
  • One undergraduate project student

to begin in January 2026. Ideal candidates will be highly motivated, have experience with basic molecular biology techniques, and be comfortable with using a programming language such as R.

We will also be ready to welcome undergraduate summer students in 2026 and are always happy to receive inquiries from postdoctoral fellows with independent funding.

If our research interests align, and you are eager to help shape a dynamic new research environment, we’d love to hear from you!

Research Interests

Insulin is a hormone that is essential for maintaining energy homeostasis. It is made by and released from beta cells;  a specialized cell type found in the pancreatic Islets of Langerhans. While the discovery of insulin in 1921 revolutionized the treatment of diabetes, we still do not fully understand how insulin secretion is regulated, and we are just now beginning to appreciate that insulin levels are highly variable between different individuals (independent of metabolic disease status).

My research program aims to understand the interplay between genetic and environmental factors that underpin the regulation of insulin secretion from the beta cell. We use innovative approaches including high-throughput screening, gene editing and multi-omics in diverse model systems (rodent islets, human donor islets, and stem cell-derived islets). Our lab focuses on three key research areas:

  1. Identifying novel regulatory pathways of insulin release
    The vast majority of our understanding of insulin secretory pathways has relied heavily on cell lines and genetically uniform mouse models (typically of a single sex). These systems do not capture the genetic and physiological diversity observed in humans. Following up on my postdoctoral work (Kolic J et al, Cell Metabolism 2024 PMID: 38959864), where we identified novel regulators on insulin secretion in human islets, we will now focus on understanding how the function of these proteins affects insulin release in islets from human donors and genetically diverse mouse strains.

  2. Understanding how non-glucose nutrients regulate insulin secretion
    The major driver of acute insulin secretion is glucose, but other macronutrients, such as proteins and fats can also modulate or directly stimulate insulin release. Traditionally, research has relied on using the insulin-secretory response to glucose as a maker of beta cell function. As such, the signalling pathways downstream of non-glucose signals are not as well understood. Our work aims to understand how beta cells prioritize and/or integrate inputs from different nutrient signals under both physiological and pathological conditions.

  3. Investigating the impacts of ultra-processed food additives on beta cell health and function
    Growing evidence suggest that compounds classified as “chemical obesogens” have contributed to the rapid rise of obesity and diabetes in our modern environment. These compounds alter energy metabolism by disrupting signaling pathways in various cell types. We will now study how the exposure to intentional food additives (e.g., non-nutritive sweeteners, colorants, emulsifiers, and preservatives) found in ultra-processed foods affects human islet cell health and function.

 

Select Publications

  1. Ewald JD, Lu Y, Ellis CE, Worton J, Kolic J, Sasaki S, Zhang D, Dos Santos T, Spigelman AF, Bautista A, Dai XQ, Lyon JG, Smith NP, Wong JM, Rajesh V, Sun H, Sharp SA, Rogalski JC, Moravcova R, Cen HH, Manning Fox JE; HumanIslets.com Consortium; Atlas E, Bruin JE, Mulvihill EE, Verchere CB, Foster LJ, Gloyn AL, Johnson JD, Pepper AR, Lynn FC, Xia J, MacDonald PE. HumanIslets.com: Improving accessibility, integration, and usability of human research islet data. Cell Metab. 2025 Jan 7;37(1):7-11. PMID: 3935752

  2. Banerjee R, Zhu Y, Brownrigg GP, Moravcova R, Rogalski JC, Foster LJ, Johnson JD, Kolic J. Beta-Hydroxybutyrate Promotes Basal Insulin Secretion While Decreasing Glucagon Secretion in Mouse and Human Islets. Endocrinology. 2024 Jul 1;165(8):bqae079. PMID: 38970533

  3. Kolic J, Sun WG, Cen HH, Ewald JD, Rogalski JC, Sasaki S, Sun H, Rajesh V, Xia YH, Moravcova R, Skovsø S, Spigelman AF, Manning Fox JE, Lyon J, Beet L, Xia J, Lynn FC, Gloyn AL, Foster LJ, MacDonald PE, Johnson JD. Proteomic predictors of individualized nutrient-specific insulin secretion in health and disease. Cell Metab. 2024 Jul 2;36(7):1619-1633.e5. PMID: 38959864

  4. Kolic J, Sun WG, Johnson JD, Guess N. Amino acid-stimulated insulin secretion: a path forward in type 2 diabetes. Amino Acids. 2023 Dec;55(12):1857-1866. PMID: 37966501

  5. Kolic J, Johnson JD. Promises and pitfalls of beta cell-replacement therapies. Nat Metab. 2021 Aug;3(8):1036-1037. PMID: 3425390