Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that low dietary potassium causes direct kidney injury, suggesting potential new targets for treating chronic kidney disease.

Vanderbilt Diabetes Day, an annual event that showcases the work of outstanding scientists and researchers in the fields of diabetes, obesity and metabolism was held this month, and it marked the first time many investigators working under the auspices of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) had gathered in one space since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vanderbilt researchers dissected the complex microenvironment of the pancreatic islet to discover the signals that drive beta cell regeneration — as a possible treatment for diabetes.

Images of cells and tissues are a critical part of biomedical research as they show which molecules or proteins are present and where these molecules are located in the tissue. Using increasingly sophisticated microscopes and imaging approaches, scientists can now look at more than 40 different molecules at once, an approach known as multi-plex imaging, where in the past they could only look at three or four molecules at a time.

The multicellular, 3-D structure of human pancreatic islets — the areas of the pancreas containing hormone-producing or endocrine cells — has presented challenges to researchers as they study and manipulate these cells’ function, but Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have now developed a pseudoislet system that allows for much easier study of islet function.

Researchers with the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) have discovered a progressive decline in pancreas volume over a one-year period in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes.