Patrick MacDonald🇨🇦

And a blog post.

The comparative cell physiology of stem-cell-derived and primary human beta cells. A new review from our group and colleagues. rdcu.be/1GZjWQVvfQca

Canadians wonder if they can win trade war against famously self-sacrificing and unified Americans

For over a year, Canada has worked intensively and in good faith with the United States to negotiate a new comprehensive trade deal. We have been pragmatic, patient, and persistent. Our goal has always been to get the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any time frame.

We wrote a thing on how oxidative stress causes hepatic insulin resistance based on an article in @natmetabolism.nature.com link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper in @diabetologiajnl.bsky.social on paracrine control of insulin secretion, led by the talented newly minted Dr. Ryan Hart (@ryanhart13.bsky.social). 1/5 doi.org/10.1007/s001...

Please share this gift article from The New York Times with friends, family, sceptics, and People who think that studying weird things is a waste of money. Then follow up with meaningful discussion about what I call 'free range science'. Free without subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/o...

Excited to see this out! https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aed4221

Multi-modal comparison of primary and stem cell-derived β-cells nominates targets for maturation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I’ve been off of social media…. But this is one reason to come back. Good stuff.

(🧵 1/22) Many publications from the CIRTN labs this Spring 🌷! Works are from Drs Bruin, MacDonald, Johnson, Mulvihill, Chen, Verchere, Kolic, Huang, Hull-Meichle, Kin, Shapiro, Korbutt, Pepper, P. MacDonald, T. MacDonald, Rideout, Riddell, Rutter, Rabasa-Lhoret and Prentice.

From pancreas and islet resources to diabetes insights link.springer.com/article/10.1...

(🧵1/23) First month of 2026: complete✅! Many papers coming from CIRTN scientists, including works from the labs of Drs Bruin, Lynn, Estall, Ferdaoussi, Fullerton, Hull-Meichle, Pepper, Korbutt, Levings, Lim, Mulvihill, Rabasa-Lhoret, Riddell, Rutter, Tsai, Woo and Verchere! 📝

After the World Trade Center was attacked (just four miles from Trump Tower), more than 40,000 Canadians in uniform fought alongside their U.S. allies in Afghanistan. More than 2,000 Canadians were wounded. These 158 didn't make it home. And now this guy is giving lectures on gratitude.

Take a look behinds the sciences of our recent work!

Behind the Scenes: Featuring authors Theodore dos Santos, Xiao-Qing Dai, Patrick E. MacDonald, James G. Lyon, Aliya F. Spigelman, Nancy Smith, Tina Dafoe, and Austin Bautista and their work with IsletCore

What can surviving pancreatic cells tell us about type 1 diabetes? Patrick E. MacDonald @bcellorg.bsky.social analyze pancreatic islet cells from donors with type 1 diabetes, defining pathways and mechanisms responsible for altered insulin and glucagon: doi.org/10.1172/JCI1...

Altered immune and metabolic molecular pathways drive islet cell dysfunction in human type 1 diabetes @jci.org @bcellorg.bsky.social @ualberta.bsky.social #T1D www.jci.org/articles/vie... www.jci.org/articles/vie...

An integrated analysis that combines electrophysiological and transcriptomic profiling, along with machine learning, of #islet cells from #T1D donors highlights the importance of α cell dysfunction @albertadiabetes.bsky.social @jci.org @bcellorg.bsky.social www.jci.org/articles/vie...

CIRTN-R2FIC is currently running in Toronto its 4th Annual Meeting. During this meeting we have launched our mini interview series called "Islets in a Pod" ! Our first interview is with Dr. Patrick MacDonald from the University of Alberta. youtu.be/UlHn_1Fz3ck?...

It was a pleasure to attend the @cirtn.bsky.social workshop. I could not be more impressed by the incredible trainee presentations. And it was a special pleasure to present the first CIRTN Science Communication Award to three amazing scientists: Lahari Basu, Maria Galipeau and Cassandra Locatelli!

Unfortunately can’t be there in person this year, but wishing everyone attending @cirtn.bsky.social national meeting a good time in Toronto!

🧵(1/12) November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and we have many works coming out from the CIRTN labs focusing on islet biology and diabetes. For the beginning of Nov 2025, we have papers from Drs Thompson, Verchere, Chen, Dhanvantari, Hill, Hoesli, Kin, Levings, Lynn, Riddell, Rutter and Wheeler.

'Icicle kick' goes viral: CPL final tops 1 billion views https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/aaa9fec50b2b595cc0291494fc97e4bd10e7d6945d5c457e0bfa75d42846a705/0b881bb4-068b-47e1-aa08-df6969c9f628

“The New York Times found that at critical points, as measles was gaining new footholds in Canada, provincial politicians stopped public health officials from speaking out about the value of getting vaccinated” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/w...

Robert Munsch has donated his personal archives of stories and materials to the Guelph Public Library. This is wonderful for such a valuable archive to be given to a public municipal library. www.guelphpl.ca/Modules/News...

Budget analysis part 1

🧵(1/4) We have finished up October 2025 🎃, and the CIRTN groups had several more publications coming from the labs of Drs Rennian Wang, Megan Levings and Marc Prentki.

This! Fancy web interfaces let you explore the data, but they are not the same as sharing the data. You can do both!

If you are a Canadian scientist interested in the protection of identifying information about applicants and reviewers of tricouncil grants please read and sign this letter. Thank you. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📢 Support Our Science in the news! We’re proud to be featured in CTV News’ latest story on Canada’s emerging “brain gain” — a scientific migration as researchers look north amid challenges in the U.S.

🧵(1/4) For the first half of October 2025 we have 3 publications from the CIRTN labs🍁. These papers are from the groups of Drs. Bruce Verchere, Yi-Chun Chen, Francis Lynn, James Shapiro, Tatsuya Kin and Guy Rutter!

Today, #ForeverCanadian brought 230,000 petition signatures to Edmonton. Our volunteers will continue collecting signatures until October 28. We need your signature to reach our 300,000 requirement to keep Alberta in Canada. #ableg #Yeg #Yyc #CdnPoli

🧵(1/7)We are now out of September🍁! From the last two weeks we have had publications from the CIRTN labs of Drs Jenny Bruin, Mourad Ferdaoussi, Peter Light, Patrick MacDonald, James Shapiro and Bruce Verchere!

Novel insights into the molecular underpinnings of islet cell dysfunction in #T1D highlighting pathways that may be leveraged to preserve residual β-cell function and modulate α-cell activity @bcellorg.bsky.social www.jci.org/articles/vie...

Join us for the revival of the Islet Biology and Diabetes Keystone symposia in Breckenridge, Colorado on March 16-19, 2026, for great science and great skiing. You can register now for early bird rates: lnkd.in/dw59T7tc Joint with Gut-Brain Axis. @linnemannlab.bsky.social Erica Nishimura, Barak Blum

My column in the Globe & Mail: “Those challenges notwithstanding, separation is clearly not the answer. Even the talk of separation damages Alberta’s reputation, creates uncertainty, drives away talent and investment, and divides communities.” #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Decision to cancel my season tix….justified again.

Research is the key to unlocking Canada’s future and it needs proper funding. The federal government must uphold its Budget 2024 commitment to Canadian researchers. Read the Coalition for Canadian Research’s open letter: www.caut.ca/news/coaliti...

Join us this Friday am, in person or online, for new insights into #Islet biology-what should we strive for in islet cell replacement therapy?-some thoughts from Professor Powers, a leader in the field in characterizing human islets across the lifespan #diabetes

Hello! Welcome to the CIRTN-R2FIC BlueSky account! Our group focuses on researching pancreatic islet biology and pathology related to islets such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Here you will find bi-weekly updates from the scientists from across Canada that make up CIRTN-R2FIC.