Dr. Czyzyk is a physician-scientist with clinical expertise in kidney disease and basic research interests in autoimmune diseases with emphasis on Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in recent years. Czyzyk and his colleagues study how both normal function of the islets and their inflammation are regulated by islet-sensing signals that are generated in the surrounding exocrine tissue - a process they believe is regulated by proteases. Czyzyk is particularly interested in how the balance between proteases and inhibitors of proteases called serpins affect inflammation and tissue regeneration of pancreatic islet cells. Czyzyk and colleagues have also focused on serum response factor (SRF) and podocytes, highly specialized cells of the kidney glomerulus that help regulate glomerular filtration. SRF is a master regulator of the actin cytoskeleton. Ongoing research is aimed at revealing target genes essential for podocyte homeostasis.