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Novel regenerative therapy eases diabetes symptoms in mice


December 30, 2014

New research from Dr. Michael Rudnicki’s group is providing hope that r¬egenerative medicine could one day be harnessed to improve treatment for diabetes. Diabetes occurs when the body fails to properly regulate the level of sugar in the blood, either because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or because the body does not respond properly to insulin. This new research, led by postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jonathan Smid, shows that a protein called periostin plays a crucial role in pancreas regeneration in the mouse, and a synthetic version of this protein can stimulate pancreas regeneration and improve blood sugar regulation in a mouse model of diabetes. See Endocrinology for details. Dr. Rudnicki and his team are working with Fate Therapeutics to commercialize this technology and eventually bring it to patients.

Funder(s): JDRF, Stem Cell Network, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Canada Research Chairs Program, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

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