CIMR-Huixia Ren

Research Group

Huixia Ren

renhuixia(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Lab Website

Junior Investigator

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renhuixia(at)cimrbj.ac.cn

Lab Website

B.S. in Mathematics, South China University of Technology, China

Ph.D. in Integrated Life Science, Peking University, China

Work Experience

2024.7-Present

Junior Investigator, Chinese Institute for Medical Physiology, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing, China

2020.6-2024.6

Postdoctoral Fellow, Peking University, China

Research Direction

The Ren laboratory at CIMR works how cell-to-cell interactions within the pancreatic islet balance Ca²⁺ activity and hormone secretion, as well as maintain blood glucose homeostasis. Through the integration of experimental, computational and theoretical methods, we aim to gain new insights for disease treatment.

Major Research Projects

1. Novel glucagon and somatostatin sensor to detect the endogenous hormone secretion dynamics

2. Mechanisms of glucose sensitivity regulation in diabetic pancreatic islets

3. Invivo pancreatic islet Ca²⁺and hormone release imaging

Major Contributions

1. We developed a technique for simultaneous calcium imaging of 20–100 pancreatic islets in live mice, combined with continuous glucose monitoring. Using this approach, we found that glycemic fluctuations triggered a fast-slow oscillation switch in islet β cell Ca²⁺ activity in vivo. We further showed that this rhythmicity depended on α-δ cell interactions, was impaired in diabetes, and could be restored by GLP1 receptor signaling. Together, our findings highlighted a paracrine-driven coordination of islet dynamics that supports blood glucose stability (Cell Systems, 2026a).

2. Using microfluidic chip imaging and mathematical modeling, this study showed that δ-α cell interactions orchestrated islet β cell Ca²⁺ rhythms. δ cells slowed the rhythm by inhibiting α cells, and the continuous tuning of this interaction produced fast, slow, or mixed patterns. This paracrine mechanism thus connected islet architecture to dynamic function and glucose sensing in vivo (Cell Systems, 2026b).

3. We discovered that the α and β cells in pancreatic islets were globally phase-locked. We built a mathematical model to highlight the importance of cell-cell interactions in generating stable but tunable islet oscillation patterns. This challenged the traditional view that oscillation patterns originate mainly from the heterogeneity of β cells (Nature Communications, 2022).

4. Using a novel extracellular Zn²⁺ probe to observe insulin vesicle secretion, we found that the secretion capacity of islet β cells exhibited exponential distribution heterogeneity (Nature Metabolism, 2024).

Representative Publications *：Co-first author; #：Co-corresponding author

Ren HX, et al. Pancreatic islet oscillation rhythmicity arises from δ and α cell interactions. Cell Systems, 2026, 17: 101587. DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2026.101587

Deng YW, Fu ZC, Wang XJ, Qiao YX, Wu X, Yang S, Zhou CM, Huang WL, Hui LJ, Qian WR, Chen LY, Tang C, Du YY^#, Peng XH^#, Ren HX^#. Glycemia shifts pancreatic islet rhythmicity by influencing interactions between δ cells and α cells. Cell Systems, 2026: 101568. DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2026.101568

Peng XH*, Ren HX*, Yang L*, Tong SY, Zhou RJ, Long HC, Wu YX, Wang LF, Wu Y, Zhang YD, Shen JY, Zhang JW, Qiu GH, Wang JY, Han CS, Zhang YL, Zhou MX, Zhao YW, Xu T, Tang C, Chen ZX, Liu HS^#, Chen LY^#. Releasable b-cells with tight Ca²⁺-exocytosis coupling in pancreatic islets dictate biphasic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Nature Metabolism, 2024, 1-16. DOI:10.1038/s42255-023-00962-0

Ren HX*, Li YJ*, Han CS*, Yu Y, Shi BW, Peng XH, Zhang TM, Wu SF, Yang XJ, Kim S, Chen LY^# and Tang C^#. Pancreatic α and β cells are globally phase-locked. Nature Communications, 2022, 13: 1-16. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31373-6

Lei Y*, Zhao ZY*, Ren HX*, Wang WC*, Zhou WZ, Zheng SC, Han RL, Zhang J, Li HR, Wan ZH, Tang C, Sun SY, Wang WQ, Ning G#. A multi-classifier system to identify and subtype congenital adrenal hyperplasia based on circulating steroid hormones. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2022, 107: e3304-e3312. DOI:10.1210/clinem/dgac271

Zhang JW*, Peng XH*, Wu YX*, Ren HX*, Sun JF, Tong SY, Liu TY, Zhao Y, Wang SS, Tang C, Chen LY, and Chen ZX^#. Red‐and Far‐Red‐Emitting Zinc Probes with Minimal Phototoxicity for Multiplexed Recording of Orchestrated Insulin Secretion. Angewandte Chemie, 2021, 133: 26050-26059. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202109510

Ren HX, Zhao MD, Liu B, Yao RX, Liu Q, Ren ZP, Wu ZR, Gao ZM, Yang XJ, Tang C^#. Cellbow: a robust customizable cell segmentation program. Quantitative Biology, 2020, 8: 245–255. DOI: 10.1007/s40484-020-0213-6

Full List of Publications Can Be Found Here