What we’ve accomplished.

Our Diabetes team has identified ways to generate insulin-producing cells from human pluripotent stem cells as well as from stem cells found in the adult pancreas

What we’re doing now.

Cell transplantation to treat type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes results from the immune destruction of insulin producing cells, also know as beta cells, located in the adult pancreas. While insulin injections offer an effective treatment for the disease, the inability to provide fine regulation of blood sugar with this therapy often results in serious complications later in life. Transplantation of functional insulin producing cells into these patients could provide a new approach for treating and possibly curing this disease. Clinical trials using donor-derived insulin producing cells for transplantation have shown that this therapy can work as some of the treated patients no longer required insulin injections. While cell based therapy has the potential of providing a cure for the disease, expansion of the treatment to a broad patient population is currently not possible due to a severe shortage of donor cells for transplantation.

Stem cells offer a new source of insulin-producing cells for transplantation.

The potential to create insulin-producing cells from human stem cells in a petri dish offers a new unlimited source of these cells for transplantation for the treatment of a large number of patients with this form of diabetes. We have recently discovered a method for making insulin-producing cells from a type of stem cell known as pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells are unique, in they are able to make most, if not all, of the cell types in the human body.

The next step

The next important step in this research project is to transplant the stem cell-derived insulin producing cells into diabetic mice, to determine if these cells can cure diabetes in this pre-clinical model. Demonstrating that the stem cell-derived insulin producing cells can cure diabetes in mice is an essential next step in moving this approach to a therapy for human diabetes.

We’re healing chronic wounds caused by diabetes with stem cells.

Chronic wounds caused by injury, or diseases such as diabetes, cause tremendous suffering and are a largely unmet medical need. Each year, Ontario hospitals treat more than 4,000 patients for pressure ulcers (just one type of chronic wound), resulting in more than 145,000 patient days in hospital.

Our Diabetes team is investigating how stem cells that maintain and repair adult tissue can be recruited to help the body heal itself.

What we hope to achieve.

The goal of our Diabetes team is to eliminate type 1 diabetes by creating unlimited supplies of insulin-producing cells from stem cells. By identifying new sources of human insulin producing cells, we will be able to treat and, eventually cure, a broader patient base.