Owen Bendor-Samuel

Research

I am an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow undertaking a DPhil in Medical Sciences in the Hodson Group (OCDEM, Radcliffe Department of Medicine), supervised by Professor David J. Hodson and Professor Patrik Rorsman.

My work focuses on the alpha-cell compartment within stem-cell-derived pancreatic islets. Pancreatic islets are tiny clusters of endocrine cells that keep blood glucose in balance: beta cells release insulin to lower glucose, while alpha cells release glucagon to raise it. These cells constantly communicate, and alpha-cell signals help tune beta-cell performance.

I hypothesise that alpha cells in stem-cell-derived islets are not fully functional; by defining where they fall short and developing strategies to rescue their function, I aim to build more physiologically integrated islets that better regulate beta cells and improve overall islet survival.

Background

I graduated from Cardiff University (hons) and moved to Oxford for paediatric training, where early research led to an interest in diabetes and endocrinology.

I have completed two research fellowships: first with the Oxford Vaccine Group, working across multiple randomised controlled trials including POInT (the GPPAD oral-insulin primary-prevention study); and subsequently as a Victoria Smallpeice Paediatric Academic Fellow in Professor Hodson’s group. There, I generated preliminary data validating novel in-vitro models of type 1 diabetes—work that underpinned my MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship application and brought me back to the Hodson lab for my DPhil.

Clinically, I am a paediatric diabetes and endocrinology resident, with broader academic interests in type 1 diabetes screening, prevention and delay, and islet-cell biology.