pancreas

Patient’s freak pancreas injury spurs rapid response

Macie Glover sprinted across the gym floor at school earlier this year, tripped and crashed into a wall. In a bizzare sequence of events, she hit her head and arm and scraped her knees as the force of the crash propelled her whole body arching backward into a crescent shape.

Insulin in vials

Making human beta cells reproduce

A new method developed at Vanderbilt will speed the search for potential therapeutics for diabetes: compounds that stimulate the replication of insulin-producing beta cells.

Insulin in vials

Fighting type 2 diabetes with FGF1

The growth factor FGF1 induces the growth of new insulin-producing beta cells and may help treat type 2 diabetes.

Insulin in vials

CaMKII enhances insulin secretion

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

cells

Searching for beta cell stimulators

Vanderbilt researchers describe a new technique for identifying factors that stimulate the proliferation of pancreatic beta cells – factors that might offer therapeutic options for diabetes.

Pancreas cells full of potential

Adult cells in the pancreas can return to a less mature state – and then become a different cell type, like the beta cells that secrete insulin.

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