Researchers Have Made Insulin-Producing Cells From Human Skin Cells

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

Human pancreatic beta cells (green) inserted within a mouse, breaking down glucose (purple). Saiyong Zhu/Nature Communications

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco, have managed to convert human skin cells into fully functioning, insulin-producing pancreatic cells. The new study in Nature Communications reveals that this novel approach to cellular reprogramming not only works, but has the potential to be scaled up in order to produce trillions of these cells in a careful, controlled manner, helping to treat those who suffer from diabetes.