A driving force for diabetes research

Melanie Shapiro, Ph.D. ’20, is an emerging leader in studying immunotherapies for Type 1 diabetes

By Emily Mavrakis
Melanie Shapiro under a lab hood, wearing a white lab coat. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 5, Melanie Shapiro, Ph.D. '20, has spent nearly a decade in Gainesville researching diabetes immunotherapies, beginning as a doctoral student. She recently received a highly selective NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, granted to promising postdoctoral scientists to support their timely transition to a faculty position.
“I talked to people at all these other places, and it was people saying, ‘This is what I study, and that’s what you’re going to study.’ At UF it was like, ‘You’re interested in this, we can make that happen.’”