In most areas of diabetes research, you don’t hear much until there’s a big breakthrough of some sort. And then it goes dark again.
That’s what happened several years ago on the then-hot topic of xenotransplantation, or the sourcing of islet cells for transplants. Some studies were launched using porcine cells and the press had a field day with headlines like “pig sushi diabetes trial.” Since then? Nada.
But recently, a New Zealand-based company called…
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More islet cell research to share with you today:
We’ve been covering quite a few companies working hard at finding ways to protect islets from immune system attack. First we profiled Cerco Medical, which is also the subject of a documentary film, and a couple of weeks ago we checked in with ViaCyte, of San Diego. Both of those companies are working with stem cells, but today’s company, Canada’s Sernova, is kicking it old school…
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Lots of organizations are working on new ways to accomplish islet cell transplantation in which the immune system does not kill off the transplanted cells. If they could do that, we’d likely have a cure for diabetes. But it ain’t easy, especially because we’re talking about transplanting into people whose immune systems are in mega-attack mode to begin with (type 1 diabetics).
The Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) in Florida is currently working on this challenge…
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By
AmyT on
February 23, 2009
Get ready for a post with a lot of fancy science words. It can’t be helped. That’s because if you’re going to use pig cells to potentially cure type 1 diabetes, you need a LOT of science.
MicroIslet Inc. is a biotech firm based in San Diego, CA, that ironically declared bankruptcy last year, but is pulling itself up by the bootstraps to realize its transplantation therapy dream. It is now gearing up to launch…
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