Vanderbilt Diabetes Day, an annual research symposium, this year featured talks by nationally known researchers and by winners of the Diabetes Scholar awards.

Vanderbilt University is part of a national effort to improve diabetes treatment by developing strategies for proliferating, regenerating and improving the function of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets.

A person’s mitochondrial gene “signature” could predict risk for diabetic retinopathy and guide early intervention strategies.

Up to 60 percent of patients who receive a stem cell transplant using cells from another donor will develop post-transplant diabetes mellitus, which can increase the rate of complications and death after the procedure.

Vanderbilt investigators have demonstrated in two studies that metformin-based treatments delay the onset and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) compared with other treatments for diabetes.

The protein CaMKII acts as a calcium sensor in a positive feedback pathway that enhances glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.

The extracellular matrix that surrounds cells plays a role in the development of insulin resistance.