A component of the extracellular matrix that surrounds cells plays a role in insulin resistance and may be a good therapeutic target.

The Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has awarded Vanderbilt’s William Russell, M.D., professor of Pediatrics and director of the division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, its highest honor — the Living and Giving Award for support of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Immune cells that recognize self antigens (e.g. insulin), but are functionally silent, can trigger autoimmune diseases such as diabetes.

Diabetes has a big impact on the brain.

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.

C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., renowned for his contributions to the field of insulin signaling and its role in type 2 diabetes and obesity, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 21.

The statistics are jarring. More than 25.8 million children and adults in the United States — 8.3 percent of the population — have diabetes. And predictions are that one in three people will have the chronic disease by 2050.