Welcome to the Walker Lab website! I'm Emily Walker, and I lead a research group within the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics at Wayne State University. My lab is dedicated to understanding how cell maturity and function are regulated by transcription factor activity in metabolic tissues, particularly in pancreatic beta cells.

Our primary goals are to (1) mechanistically determine how metabolic disease results from loss of cell maturity and (2) restore or produce mature β cells to reverse type 2 diabetes (T2D) or improve stem cell differentiation for cell replacement therapies, respectively.

I have a strong track record of publishing in leading scientific journals, including recent publications in Nature Communications, Science, and Nature Metabolism. Please explore our website to learn more about our current projects and publications.