Celebrating Excellence in Research

We are proud to recognise the achievements of Dr Adrián Villalba Felipe, one of our esteemed supervisors on our University of Warwick, Online Master of Science in Diabetes Care, who has been awarded the CiteAb Data Accelerating Science Award 2025 – Image of the Year. 

Adrián has been a supervisor on our Diabetes Care programme since 2021, making him one of our longest-serving faculty members. Over the years, he has supervised many of our master’s research students, offering invaluable guidance and expertise. His continued dedication to both research and education has greatly enriched our programme and supported the academic growth of numerous students. 

Currently, Dr Adrián Villalba is a Sara Borrell postdoctoral researcher at IIS La Fe – IVI Foundation (Valencia, Spain), working in the group led by Dr Hortensia Ferrero. Their research focuses on the autocrine and paracrine communication between the human endometrium and the embryo in the context of uterine diseases. Prior to this, he was a LABEX postdoctoral researcher at Université Paris Cité from 2020 to 2024. 

Dr Adrián and his team received this prestigious accolade for their visually striking and scientifically impactful image, published in: “A 3D atlas of the human developing pancreas to explore progenitor proliferation and differentiation.” 

The award-winning image – a stunning 3D lateral view of a PCW7 human embryo – was captured using Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LSFM) on the UltraMicroscope Blaze (Miltenyi). It precisely maps the developing pancreas, showcasing SOX9 expression across key embryonic structures. 

Image: 3D image of a human embryo at 7 postconceptional-weeks (stained with SOX9 and TH in gray) 

This pioneering work offers unprecedented 3D insight into human pancreatic development, particularly between 5 and 11 post-conceptional weeks (PCW). By revealing the spatial organisation, proliferation dynamics, and early distribution of insulin-producing cells, the study provides a groundbreaking visualisation of organogenesis, with significant implications for diabetes research. 

We warmly congratulate Dr Adrián on this outstanding achievement and thank him for his ongoing contributions to advancing the field of diabetes care and education.