Christine Doucette, PhD

Research summary

Research in the Doucette Lab is focused on defining the molecular and metabolic factors that regulate pancreatic insulin secretion and importantly, learning how these factors are disrupted in the development of type 2 diabetes.

Being a pre-clinical laboratory, Dr. Christine Doucette and her team use rodent and cell models to “reverse engineer” diabetes so they can explore the pathological mechanisms that contribute to diabetes onset and progression.

Specific projects currently include investigating the role of the circadian clock not only in the regulation of every day cycles of insulin secretion but also in contributing to metabolic dysfunction, impaired insulin secretion and diabetes development.

The lab also has a project that aims to investigate the role of a gene variant called HNF-1aG319S. This gene variant strongly associates with youth living with type 2 diabetes in Manitoba; however, its mechanistic contribution to insulin secretion and interaction with various environmental factors (i.e. diet) are not yet understood.

The lab is using state-of-the-art gene editing technologies to develop rodent and cell models of this gene variant and exploring how it impacts metabolic health.

Dr. Doucette hopes the discoveries from her research will yield much needed insights into how and why the pancreas fails during type 2 diabetes so that the lab can contribute to the development improved treatment and prevention approaches.

Cross-appointment

• Department of pharmacology and therapeutics, Max Rady College of Medicine

Research affiliations

• Research scientist, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM) 
• Diabetes Research Envisioned and Accomplished in Manitoba (DREAM) Theme

Research groups

• Canadian Islet Research and Training Network (CIRTN) 

Dr. Christine Doucette is an associate professor at UM in the department of physiology and pathophysiology and a research scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).

At CHRIM, Dr. Doucette is an active member of the “DREAM” (Diabetes Research Envisioned and Accomplished in Manitoba) theme and runs a productive biomedical research program focused on a number of aspects of beta cell and islet biology.

Dr. Doucette is currently the co-lead of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) research group at CHRIM, which is a multidisciplinary, translational team of basic and clinical scientists dedicated to understanding how prenatal and early-life exposures influence the metabolic health of the next generation.

Dr. Doucette’s research program is nationally funded by CIHR and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

She was awarded the Dr. John A. Moorhouse Fellowship in Diabetes Research (2017-2020) from the Diabetes Foundation of Manitoba.

Education

• Postdoctoral fellowship (physiology), University of Toronto (2007-2012)
• Doctor of philosophy (cell and systems biology), University of Toronto (2007)
• Bachelor of science (honours, cell and molecular biology), University of Toronto (2000)

Awards

• Dr. John A. Moorhouse Diabetes Research Fellowship, Diabetes Foundation of Manitoba (2017-2020)
• Manitoba Medical Students Association Teaching Award Nomination; Category: Mentorship (2020)
• Manitoba Medical Students Association Teaching Award Nomination; Category: Inspiration (2018)