Cure
Currently there is no cure for diabetes. It is important to note that a cure for diabetes will not necessarily originate from work undertaken in the field of diabetes.
Developments and discoveries take place in other areas of science and medicine - it is the import and application of these developments to diabetes that may yield dividends. It is also possible that a cure for diabetes may originate from work undertaken to better understand and establish the causes of diabetes.
It is impossible to predict how or when a cure may be found. However, a cure would rapidly take us to the desired state ? a world without diabetes. In the absence of a cure Diabetes UK will continue to work towards one.
Cure: stem cells
Dr Ludovic Vallier, Professor Roger A Pedersen & Professor J A Bradley
Cambridge University
£138,885; three year Joint Diabetes UK/MRC Fellowship
Generation of pancreatic progenitors by promoting endodermal differentiation of human embryonic stem cells
Currently there are only enough donated islet cells to treat 1 per cent of diabetes patients, this study will look into the possibility of producing islet cells from stem cells.
Adopted by: Blackburn & District Voluntary Group; Harrogate & District Voluntary Group; Penrith & District Voluntary Group; South Northants Voluntary Group; Wrexham & District Voluntary Group; York Voluntary Group; Doncaster Voluntary Group.
Professor Kevin Docherty
University of Aberdeen
£57,000; three year studentship
Programming human ES cells towards a beta-cell-like phenotype
Embryonic stem cells have the capacity to grow and divide in culture and under specific conditions from any tissue found in the body. The aim of this project is to convert embryonic stem cells into insulin secreting islet cells. This will be done by culturing the stem cells in defined conditions supplemented with growth factors. At specific times the levels of protein in the cells that control the expression of specific genes which are known to mastermind the formation of islets in the developing pancreas, will be increased. The ultimate goal is a protocol that will generate a source of islets for transplantation for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.
Professor Peter Jones
King's College London
£60,000; three year studentship
Functional phenotype of insulin secreting generated from human embryonic stem cells
Embryonic stem (ES) cells offer the potential for generating large numbers of beta-cells for transplantation therapy of Type 1 diabetes and experiments suggest that human stem cells can turn into insulin-expressing cells. However, recent experiments suggest that these cells may not be authentic pancreatic beta-cells and the quality of the cells may be very dependent upon the starting population of human stem cells. This project will study the insulin-expressing cells derived from human stem cells.
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