From Venezuela to the Diabetes Research Institute: A Ph.D. Student’s Path to Advancing Type 1 Diabetes Research
Isabella Delia Altilio Bove, a fifth‑year Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is helping advance new strategies to regenerate insulin‑producing cells for people with type 1 diabetes.
When Isabella Delia Altilio Bove arrived in Miami from Venezuela at age 17, she was looking for more than an education. She was searching for a place that felt close to home, one that would allow her to grow into the scientist she hoped to become.
“I was applying to different universities all across the U.S., especially on the East Coast,” she said. “But I ended up deciding on Miami just because it was the city that was closest to home. It was a two‑and‑a‑half‑hour plane ride, and I didn’t want to go to the cold.”
Beyond geography, Miami’s cultural familiarity eased her transition to college life in the United States.
“It made the whole transition easier,” she said, noting that being surrounded by other Latin students while also meeting classmates from across the country helped her feel supported as she adjusted to a new academic and cultural environment.
Discovering a Passion for Diabetes Research
As an undergraduate at the University of Miami, Altilio Bove majored in biochemistry and nutrition, initially envisioning a career as a dietitian. But an early research requirement introduced her to laboratory science and redirected her professional goals. She joined a laboratory studying type 2 diabetes and obesity, where she became fascinated by understanding disease at a molecular level.
“It was what I wanted to learn about, but from the bench side,” Altilio Bove said.
That experience proved pivotal. By the time she graduated, she knew she wanted to pursue a Ph.D. And she knew where she wanted to do it.
“I was so happy with the university, with the system. I honestly did not apply anywhere else,” she said. “I just applied to the Ph.D. programs here at the Miller School.”
Now a fifth‑year doctoral candidate in the molecular cell and developmental biology track, Altilio Bove conducts her research at the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) under the mentorship of Juan Domínguez‑Bendala, Ph.D., a DRI researcher and professor in the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery at the Miller School. Her work focuses on type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys insulin‑producing beta cells in the pancreas.
“In type 1 diabetes, a patient is depleted of beta cells, which are the cells that produce insulin,” Altilio Bove explained. “What we’re working on is regenerating the cells that were previously attacked by the immune system.”
Exploring the Pancreas’ Ability to Regenerate Insulin‑Producing Cells
Her research explores the pancreas’ natural ability to repair itself under stress. The team has observed that when the pancreas experiences injury such as autoimmune attack, it attempts to regenerate insulin‑producing cells.
“The pancreas wants to regenerate itself,” Altilio Bove said. “We’re investigating the mechanisms of that repair and how to accelerate it.”
“It is the next generation of treatments,” Dr. Domínguez‐Bendala said. “Instead of transplanting, we would be inducing the pancreas to activate its own stem cells and generate new beta cells. We discovered that there are progenitor cells in the organ that remain there throughout life, even in people with type 1 diabetes. And we found a way to awaken them.”
The lab uses a small peptide derived from a protein that already exists in the body during development. The peptide acts on progenitor‑like cells within the pancreas, encouraging them to become insulin‑producing beta cells more efficiently. Much of Altilio Bove’s work focuses on understanding and enhancing this regeneration pathway, with the long‑term goal of restoring insulin production in people with type 1 diabetes.
Since joining the DRI, Altilio Bove has contributed to multiple peer‑reviewed publications and remains deeply involved in ongoing projects as she prepares to defend her dissertation this summer.
Mentorship and Training at the Miller School of Medicine
Central to her success, she says, has been the Miller School’s strong culture of mentorship and a support system that began during her undergraduate years, where mentors conducted weekly one-on-one sessions to contextualize their work, and continues today.
“I sit down with Dr. Domínguez‑Bendala and we go over my questions, go over my experiment, what I’m doing right, what I’m doing wrong,” Altilio Bove said.
She describes Dr. Domínguez‑Bendala as especially approachable and invested in her development as a scientist.
“He helps with everything from basic research to advice on how I can write a paper, present and communicate our work, apply and attend conferences,” Altilio Bove said. “He’s always been supportive.”
“Isabella has been very successful,” Dr. Domínguez‐Bendala said. “She’s been the first or second author on many important papers from our lab. More importantly, I trust her with everything. I like people who can take ownership of their projects, and she has done that.”
As she looks ahead to a postdoctoral position at the DRI, Altilio Bove remains committed to advancing diabetes research and to the mentorship model that helped shape her journey from Caracas to Miami.
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Tags: cell regeneration, diabetes, Diabetes Research Institute, Dr. Juan Dominguez-Bendala, pancreatic islets, type 1 diabetes