Program Leader: Gordon C. Weir, MD

Click here to download the HSCI Diabetes Program Overview.

The HSCI Diabetes Program is composed of clinician-scientists and basic researchers across several institutions and foundations, both HSCI-affiliated and external, who are focused on the central challenge of how to make more beta cells that could be used to treat diabetes.

To watch a video about the program, click here.

Research Progress and Scientific Breakthroughs

One key research finding established by HSCI faculty is that an adult pancreatic stem cell does not exist. This knowledge has been fundamental in directing the program's focus toward two research goals: turning hESCs into beta cells that could be transplanted into patients and stimulating the existing beta cells in diabetics to replicate.

Making progress toward the first of these goals, HSCI researchers have identified chemicals that can induce hESCs to take the initial two steps in becoming functional beta cells. The Diabetes Program's unique approach in determining the steps that direct the differentiation of beta cells—nicknamed the "molecular biography of the cell"—is now being followed by HSCI's Cardiovascular Program and Nervous System Diseases Program.

This year, Douglas Melton, PhD, announced a major breakthrough in directly reprogramming pancreatic cells into insulin-producing beta cells. Rather than first reprogramming a cell into an embryonic-like cell and then directing it to become a beta cell, Melton has shown it is possible to directly reprogram one type of pancreatic cell into another. This is a fundamental finding that will drive a new understanding of cellular behavior that is applicable to diabetes and other diseases.

Technology Advancements

The program has also moved the field of diabetes research forward through the creation and refinement of new technologies. HSCI researchers are the world leaders in creating hESCs for the purpose of deriving beta cells. These valuable stem cell lines have been sent to hundreds of labs across the globe, at no charge, to speed research. HSCI has created over 40 hESC lines and has distributed more of them than any other institution.

The Diabetes Program's scientists have also created a widely used mouse model to study beta cell regeneration. In this model, a drug that kills the mouse's beta cells is first put into its drinking water. After its beta cells die, the mouse regenerates these cells by the division of the residual beta cells. Experiments are under way to find the signals responsible for this cell regeneration.

Fostering Future Research and Researchers

The Diabetes Program's success is due in part to funding of innovative early-stage research. Since 2005, four HSCI seed grants have been awarded to diabetes-related projects that have resulted in several scientific papers and established foundational data that has led to larger research projects. Success also hinges on asking the right questions, and the program aimed to identify these questions at this year's HSCI Diabetes Think Tank. The event provided an opportunity to discuss possible new research avenues, assess current activities, and identify opportunities for additional projects and collaborations.

Training the next generation of scientists is also fundamental to the future of the field as a whole. Initiated by a generous donor gift, this year was the first in which HSCI awarded graduate student fellowships to promising students conducting diabetes-related stem cell research.