We were familiar with the company ViaCyte through its former identity as NovoCell, when we reported that they’d managed to successfully control diabetes in mice using embryonic stem cells back in 2008.
Last year, they changed their name, but their two-part mission remained the same: first, to create fully functioning beta cells (the specific kind of islet cells that make insulin and amylin) from embryonic stem cells, and then to find a way to combat…
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This past weekend, 17 of the leading researchers in the diabetes community traveled to San Diego, CA, to speak at TEDxDelMar, an exciting day-long conference focused on the latest breakthroughs and continuing challenges in the search for a cure. Although the cure was the main focus of the day, TEDxDelMar also featured discussions on living well with diabetes (with talks including Dr. Steve Edelman and Dr. Bill Polonsky) and the future of diabetes technology (with…
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By
AmyT on
October 20, 2010
Embryonic stem cell research has huge potential toward a cure for diabetes. OK, I said it. If you find this topic too upsetting, you can opt out now and don’t bother reading the rest of this post…
Strides are being made in turning stem cells into functioning beta cells, and some really exciting news coming out of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) is the possibility of turning stem cells into beta cells…
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By
AmyT on
September 4, 2009
{Editor’s Note: apparently I’m all over Time magazine this week, or it’s all over me…}
Finally, some breakthrough diabetes research that does not only involve mice! Time magazine’s August 31 issue reports on new a stem-cell-based study that involved taking skin cells from two people with type 1 diabetes, exposing the cells to “a cocktail of three genes that converted them back to an embryonic state,” and then “instructing” the cells to grow into beta…
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