Renato C. S. Branco joined the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI) to work in the Templin Lab, which is investigating the cellular mechanisms that underlie the relationship between islet immune responses and beta cell death in diabetes.
Prior to working at the IBRI, Branco was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Campinas at the Obesity and Comorbidities Research Centre in Brazil. There, he investigated the role of the enzyme pyruvate carboxylase on skeletal muscle insulin resistance and its participation in type 2 diabetes mellitus onset.
Branco received his PhD from the University of Campinas, where he studied the effects of the amino acid taurine on beta cell metabolism and function in prediabetic mice.