Cate Speake, PhD
Background Information
Dr. Cate Speake received her BS degree in Microbiology and her PhD in Pathobiology from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She then pursued post-doctoral studies in Systems Immunology at Benaroya Research Institute (BRI), and subsequently transitioned to the Diabetes Clinical Research Program at BRI as a staff scientist. In 2019, Dr. Speake joined the faculty at BRI and is currently a Research Assistant Member in the Center for Interventional Immunology. Working with Dr. Carla Greenbaum, she serves as the lead translational scientist in BRI’s Diabetes Clinical Research Program. She coordinates BRI’s Experimental Medicine Unit, and, with Dr. Alice Long, is principal investigator of the JDRF-funded Core for Assay Validation. She is also the project lead for BRI’s collaborative study with the Allen Institute for Immunology.
Area of Research
Throughout her career, Dr. Speake has focused on translating findings in the laboratory to the clinic, using her expertise in analyzing large data sets to help answer clinical questions, from initial work in infectious disease settings to her current work in diabetes and autoimmunity. Current projects involve:
- Incorporating the transcriptional signatures identified in our group with other assays of immune function and beta cell dysfunction to identify a composite biomarker of C-peptide decline through our JDRF Core for Assay Validation.
- Directing data analysis for three recently completed T1D clinical trials at BRI, two of which aim to identify mechanistic markers of IL6 blockade in T1D and the third being a longitudinal sample collection in longstanding T1D subject.
- Understanding the healthy immune system through multi-omic profiling.
Featured Publications
Pesenacker AM, Chen V, Gillies J, Speake C, Marwaha AK, Sun A, Chow S, Tan R, Elliott T, Dutz JP, Tebbutt SJ, Levings MK. Treg gene signatures predict and measure type 1 diabetes trajectory. JCI Insight. 2019 Mar 21;4(6). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.123879. eCollection 2019 Mar 21. PubMed PMID: 30730852; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6483004.
Dufort MJ, Greenbaum CJ, Speake C, Linsley PS. Cell type-specific immune phenotypes predict loss of insulin secretion in new-onset type 1 diabetes. JCI Insight. 2019 Feb 21;4(4). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.125556. eCollection 2019 Feb 21. PubMed PMID: 30830868; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6478408.
Sims EK, Bahnson HT, Nyalwidhe J, Haataja L, Davis AK, Speake C, DiMeglio LA, Blum J, Morris MA, Mirmira RG, Nadler J, Mastracci TL, Marcovina S, Qian WJ, Yi L, Swensen AC, Yip-Schneider M, Schmidt CM, Considine RV, Arvan P, Greenbaum CJ, Evans-Molina C. Proinsulin Secretion Is a Persistent Feature of Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2019 Feb;42(2):258-264. doi: 10.2337/dc17-2625. Epub 2018 Dec 10. PubMed PMID: 30530850; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6341288.
Greenbaum CJ, Speake C, Krischer J, Buckner J, Gottlieb PA, Schatz DA, Herold KC, Atkinson MA. Strength in Numbers: Opportunities for Enhancing the Development of Effective Treatments for Type 1 Diabetes-The TrialNet Experience. Diabetes. 2018 Jul;67(7):1216-1225. doi: 10.2337/db18-0065. Epub 2018 May 16. PubMed PMID: 29769238; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6014559.
Courtade JA, Klimek-Abercrombie AM, Chen YC, Patel N, Lu PYT, Speake C, Orban PC, Najafian B, Meneilly G, Greenbaum CJ, Warnock GL, Panagiotopoulos C, Verchere CB. Measurement of Pro-Islet Amyloid Polypeptide (1-48) in Diabetes and Islet Transplants. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2017 Jul 1;102(7):2595-2603. doi: 10.1210/jc.2016-2773. PMID 28368485.
Speake C, Whalen E, Gersuk VH, Chaussabel D, Odegard JM, and Greenbaum CJ. Longitudinal Monitoring of Gene Expression in Ultra-Low Volume Blood Samples Self-Collected at Home. Clin Exp Immunol. 2016 Dec 23. doi: 10.1111/cei.12916. PMID 28009047.
Linsley PS, Chaussabel D, Speake C. The Relationship of Immune Cell Signatures to Patient Survival Varies within and between Tumor Types. PLOS One, 2015 Sep 23; 10(9):e0138726. PMID 26398410.
Speake C, Presnell S, Domico K, Zeitner B, Bjork A, Anderson D, Mason MJ, Whalen E, Vargas O, Popov D, Rinchai D, Jourde-Chiche N, Chiche L, Quinn C, Chaussabel D. An interactive web application for the dissemination of human systems immunology data. J Transl Med, 2015 June 19; 13:196. PMID 26088622.
Speake C and Odegard JM. Evaluation of Candidate Biomarkers of Type 1 Diabetes via the Core for Assay Validation. Biomarker Insights 2015(10); S4 19-24. PMID 26462120.
Mason MJ, Speake C, Gersuk VH, Nguyen QA, O'Brien KK, Odegard JM, Buckner JH, Greenbaum CJ, Chaussabel D, Nepom GT. Low HERV-K(C4) copy number is associated with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes, 2014 May. 63(5)1789-95. PMID 24430436.