Hannah Pizzato, PhD

Hannah Pizzato, PhD, is a principal scientist at the Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies.

Pizzato’s research centers on engineering human pluripotent stem cells, or hPSCs, to be hypoimmune, eliminating the need for immunosuppressive therapy upon transplantation of hPSC-derived cells. These modified hPSCs can subsequently be differentiated into insulin-producing beta cells as an “off-the-shelf” therapeutic approach to curing Type 1 diabetes. Pizzato’s research forms the foundational basis for Aleutian Therapeutics, a biotechnology company she co-founded.

Pizzato received her bachelor’s in biochemistry from Purdue University and her doctorate in immunology from Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied the metabolic requirements of hematopoiesis and strategies to overcome immune rejection of hPSC transplantation. She moved to the University of Arizona in 2017, where she later performed her postdoctoral work.