More than 200 investigators from across the globe who specialize in islet biology, the study of hormone-producing cell clusters in the pancreas known as islets, recently gathered in Nashville to share knowledge and present the challenges and successes of their work during the first Islet Biology Workshop at Vanderbilt.

When it comes to diet-induced obesity, your immune system is not always your friend.

An international research team including scientists from Vanderbilt University has discovered how the diabetes drug metformin blocks glucose production by the liver. The discovery, reported Aug. 27 in the journal Nature Medicine, could lead to development of new ways to treat type 2 diabetes.

The transplant team surgical technician found herself on the other side of the table as a kidney and pancreas transplant recipient. It transformed her life.

Griffin Rodgers, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), was a special guest during the 10th annual NIDDK Medical Student Research Symposium held earlier this month on the Vanderbilt University campus.

A drug used to treat diabetes may point to new therapies for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis — inflammation and obstruction of the lungs’ small airways. A multi-disciplinary team of Vanderbilt investigators has demonstrated that liraglutide reduces the inflammatory response to RSV infection in a mouse model of the disease.

Non-exercise physical activity has a measurable energy expenditure, which goes down when animals engage in voluntary exercise, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.